Doctoral theses from Mid Sweden University, (RSS from the library)http://www.bib.miun.se/This is a search for Mid Sweden University Library in DiVA portalhttp://miun.diva-portal.orgSofia Reyier ÖsterlingDistributions Of Fiber Characteristics As A Tool To Evaluate Mechanical Pulps http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-24175 <p>Mechanical pulps are used in paper products such as magazine or news grade printing papers or paperboard. Mechanical pulping gives a high yield; nearly everything in the tree except the bark is used in the paper. This means that mechanical pulping consumes much less wood than chemical pulping, especially to produce a unit area of printing surface. A drawback of mechanical pulp production is the high amounts of electrical energy needed to separate and refine the fibers to a given fiber quality. Mechanical pulps are often produced from slow growing spruce trees of forests in the northern hemisphere resulting in long, slender fibers that are well suited for mechanical pulp products. These fibers have large varieties in geometry, mainly wall thickness and width, depending on seasonal variations and growth conditions. Earlywood fibers typically have thin walls and latewood fibers thick. The background to this study was that a more detailed fiber characterization involving evaluations of distributions of fiber characteristics, may give improved possibilities to optimize the mechanical pulping process and thereby reduce the total electric energy needed to reach a given quality of the pulp and final product. This would result in improved competitiveness as well as less environmental impact. This study evaluated the relation between fiber characteristics in three types of mechanical pulps made from Norway spruce (Picea abies), thermomechanical pulp(TMP), stone groundwood pulp (SGW) and chemithermomechanical pulp (CTMP). In addition, the influence of fibers from these pulp types on sheet characteristics, mainly tensile index, was studied. A comparatively rapid method was presented on how to evaluate the propensity of each fiber to form sheets of high tensile index, by the use of raw data from a commercially available fiber analyzer (FiberLabTM). The developed method gives novel opportunities of evaluating the effect on the fibers of each stage in the mechanical pulping process and has a potential to be applied also on‐line to steer the refining and pulping process by the characteristics of the final pulp and the quality of the final paper.</p><p>The long fiber fraction is important for the properties of the whole pulp. It was found that fiber wall thickness and external fibrillation were the fibercharacteristics that contributed the most to tensile index of the long fiber fractions in five mechanical pulps (three TMPs, one SGW, one CTMP). The tensile index of handsheets of the long fiber fractions could be predicted by linear regressions using a combination of fiber wall thickness and degree of external fibrillation. The predicted tensile index was denoted BIN, short for Bonding ability INfluence. This resulted in the same linear correlation between BIN and tensile index for 52 samples of the five mechanical pulps studied, each fractionated into five streams(plus feed) in full size hydrocyclones. The Bauer McNett P16/R30 (passed 16 meshwire, retained on a 30 mesh wire) and P30/R50 fractions of each stream were used for the evaluation. The fibers of the SGW had thicker walls and a higher degree of external fibrillation than the TMPs and CTMP, which resulted in a correlation between BIN and tensile index on a different level for the P30/R50 fraction of SGW than the other pulp samples. A BIN model based on averages weighted by each fiber´s wall volume instead of arithmetic averages, took the fiber wall thickness of the SGW into account, and gave one uniform correlation between BIN and tensile index for all pulp samples (12 samples for constructing the model, 46 for validatingit). If the BIN model is used for predicting averages of the tensile index of a sheet, a model based on wall volume weighted data is recommended. To be able to produce BIN distributions where the influence of the length or wall volume of each fiber is taken into account, the BIN model is currently based on arithmetic averages of fiber wall thickness and fibrillation. Fiber width used as a single factor reduced the accuracy of the BIN model. Wall volume weighted averages of fiber width also resulted in a completely changed ranking of the five hydrocyclone streams compared to arithmetic, for two of thefive pulps. This was not seen when fiber width was combined with fiber wallthickness into the factor “collapse resistance index”. In order to avoid too high influence of fiber wall thickness and until the influence of fiber width on BIN and the measurement of fiber width is further evaluated, it is recommended to use length weighted or arithmetic distributions of BIN and other fiber characteristics. A comparably fast method to evaluate the distribution of fiber wall thickness and degree of external fibrillation with high resolution showed that the fiber wallthickness of the latewood fibers was reduced by increasing the refining energy in adouble disc refiner operated at four levels of specific energy input in a commercial TMP production line. This was expected but could not be seen by the use of average values, it was concluded that fiber characteristics in many cases should be evaluated as distributions and not only as averages.</p><p>BIN distributions of various types of mechanical pulps from Norway spruce showed results that were expected based on knowledge of the particular pulps and processes. Measurements of mixtures of a news‐ and a SC (super calendered) gradeTMP, showed a gradual increase in high‐BIN fibers with higher amounts of SCgrade TMP. The BIN distributions also revealed differences between the pulps that were not seen from average fiber values, for example that the shape of the BINdistributions was similar for two pulps that originated from conical disc refiners, a news grade TMP and the board grade CTMP, although the distributions were on different BIN levels. The SC grade TMP and the SC grade SGW had similar levels of tensile index, but the SGW contained some fibers of very low BIN values which may influence the characteristics of the final paper, for example strength, surface and structure. This shows that the BIN model has the potential of being applied on either the whole or parts of a papermaking process based on mechanical or chemimechanical pulping; the evaluation of distributions of fiber characteristics can contribute to increased knowledge about the process and opportunities to optimize it.</p>Tue, 20 Jan 2015 14:33:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-24175Carin NordströmThe Passionate Combining Entrepreneurs http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-24440 <p>Entrepreneurs are portrayed as salient drivers of regional development and for a number of years nascent entrepreneurs have been studied in a large number of countries as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project and the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics. Scholars have devoted much effort to investigating factors that determine how individuals engage in entrepreneurial activities, with most of the discussion limited to business start-ups. However, since this type of project does not follow identical nascent entrepreneurs over time, limited knowledge exists about their development and whether they stay in this nascent phase for a long time. In practice, it is common for entrepreneurs to run a business and at the same time work in wage work, so-called combining entrepreneurs. In Sweden, almost half of all business owners combine wage work with a business. However, not all combining entrepreneurs will eventually decide to leave the wage work and invest fully in the business. Consequently, much research has focused on the first step of entering entrepreneurship full time, but less has focused on the second step, the transition from the combining phase to full-time self-employment. The aim of this thesis is therefore to contribute to the theory of entrepreneurship by gaining a deeper understanding of combining entrepreneurs and their motives and intentions.</p><p> </p><p>In the context of combining entrepreneurs, the theory of identity, resources and choice overload has been used to examine how entrepreneurs’ age (when starting the business), entrepreneurial tenure (the length of engagement in the side-business), hours spent (weekly involvement in the side-business), involvement in entrepreneurial teams (leading the business with one or more partners) and involvement in networks (business networks) influence their passion for engaging in entrepreneurship while sustaining wage work. Different categories of combining entrepreneurs and their intentions have also been examined.</p><p> </p><p>A survey was administered to 1457 entrepreneurs within the creative sector in two counties in Sweden (Gävleborgs County and Jämtlands County). Since there were no separate mailing lists to only combining entrepreneurs, the survey was sent to all entrepreneurs within the chosen industry and counties. The total response rate was 33.5 percent and of them 57.6 percent combined, yielding 262 combining entrepreneurs who answered the questionnaire. The survey was then followed up with eight focus group interviews and two single interviews to validate the answers from the questionnaire.</p><p> </p><p>The results indicate three types of combining entrepreneurs: nascent – with the intention to leave the combining phase for a transition into full-time self-employment, lifestyle – with the intention to stay in the combining phase, and occasional – with the intention to leave the combining phase for full-time wage work and close down the business. Transitioning fully to self-employment increases with the individual’s age. Also, a positive interactive effect exists with involvement in entrepreneurial networks. The results also indicate that the ability to work with something one is passionate about is the top motive for combining wage work with a side-business. Passion is also more likely to be the main motive behind the combining form among individuals who are older at business start-up, but passion is less likely to be the main motive behind the combining form among individuals who spend more time on the business. The longer the individual has had the side-business, the less likely passion is the main motive behind the combining form, and passion is less likely to be the main motive among those who are part of an entrepreneurial team.</p>Fri, 27 Feb 2015 10:08:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-24440Tommy LundbergThe Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Human Skeletal Muscle Adaptations to Resistance Exercise http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21917 <p>Aerobic exercise (AE) may interfere with muscle adaptations induced by resistance exercise (RE). Three experimental campaigns were conducted to explore the influence of AE on molecular, functional and muscular adaptations to acute and chronic RE. Twenty-nine men performed unilateral knee extensor RE preceded by AE (AE+RE). The contralateral leg did RE only. First, the influence of acute AE on muscle molecular responses to RE performed 6 h later was studied. Subsequently, this exercise regimen was implemented over 5 weeks training. The relationships between acute and chronic outcomes were examined and molecular responses to acute exercise were assessed in untrained and trained muscle. Finally, acute and chronic responses to AE+RE, interspersed by only 15 min recovery, were investigated.Phosphorylation of mTOR and p70S6K was greater after AE+RE than after RE. In parallel, myostatin was suppressed for a longer time after AE+RE. These results suggest that AE+RE enhance skeletal muscle anabolic environment more than RE alone (Paper I). After 5 weeks training, improvements in muscle strength and power were similar across legs. However, AE+RE prompted a greater increase in muscle size than RE, suggesting that AE potentiates the hypertrophic stimulus to RE training without altering muscle function progress (Paper II). Consistent with changes in whole-muscle size, AE+RE showed greater anabolic molecular responses than RE. As chronic training blunted this effect, it appears that AE offers a synergistic hypertrophic stimulus to RE only during short-term training (Paper III). Although putative regulators of hypertrophy such as p70S6K, myostatin and PGC-1a4 were examined, no molecular marker correlated with changes in muscle size, strength or power induced by training. Hence, this study challenges the concept that single molecular markers are viable predictors of training-induced muscle adaptations (Paper III–IV). When recovery time between exercise bouts was reduced to 15 min, AE+RE still produced a more substantial increase in muscle size than RE. However, progression of concentric strength was blunted. Thus, while restored muscle function between exercise bouts is a prerequisite for achieving maximal gains in strength and power, incomplete recovery appears not to compromise muscle hypertrophy (Paper V).Collectively, the results suggest that outcomes of AE+RE are impacted by chronic training and time allowed for recovery between exercise modes. Yet, the current study offers no support to the view that AE interferes with muscle hypertrophy induced by RE.</p>Thu, 8 May 2014 13:29:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21917Pär ÅslundOn failure mechanisms and strength predictions in corrugated board structures http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21909 Mon, 12 May 2014 16:09:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21909Ismail YahayaChildhood Sexual Abuse Against Girls in Sub-Saharan Africa : Individual and Contextual Risk Factors http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21919 <p><strong>Background and objectives:</strong> Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a substantial public health and human rights problem, as well as a growing concern in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It has both short and long term effects on girls: physical and psychological, including negative sexual outcomes. Up to one-third of adolescent girls report their first sexual experience as being forced. Despite growing evidence supporting a link between contextual factors and violence, no studies have investigated the connection between CSA and contextual factors. It is therefore important to identify the extent of CSA and understand factors associated with it in SSA in order to develop interventions aimed to address the scale of the problem.</p><p><strong>Aim:</strong> The overall aim of this thesis is to assess the individual and contextual factors associated with CSA. In addition, the thesis aims to quantify the magnitude of CSA and describe the factors associated with CSA among women from SSA (Study I). This thesis also examines the independent contribution of individual and community socio-economic status on CSA (Study II). Moreover, it scrutinises the effect of social disorganisation on CSA (Study III) and explores the relationship between CSA and sexual risk behaviours as well as potential mediators (Study IV).</p><p><strong>Methods:</strong> This thesis used the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) datasets conducted between 2006 and 2008 from six SSA countries. The thesis used multiple logistic regression models to describe and explore factors associated with CSA among 69,977 women (Study I). It used multivariable multilevel logistic regression analysis to explore the effect of contextual level variables (neighbourhood socio-economic status) on CSA among 6,351 girls (Study II). Neighbourhood socio-economic status was operationalized with a principal component analysis using the proportion of respondents who were unemployed, illiterates, living below poverty level and rural residents. Study III applied multivariable multilevel logistic regression analysis on 6,351 girls and considered five measures of social disorganisation at the community level: neighbourhood poverty, female-headed households, residential mobility, place of residence, population density, and ethnic diversity. In study IV, 12,800 women from the Nigerian DHS were used. Structural equation modelling was applied using a two-step approach. The first step used a confirmatory factor analysis to develop an acceptable measurement model while the second step involved modifying the measurement model to represent the postulated causal model framework.</p><p><strong>Results</strong>: In study I, the reported prevalence of CSA ranged from 0.3% in Liberia to 4.3% in Zambia when the prevalence was based on all respondents aged between 15 and 49 years and who were present during the survey. None of the socio-economic factors were associated with CSA. In study II, where the data was restricted to permanent residents aged between 15 and 18 years, the prevalence ranged between 1.04% in Liberia to 5.8% in Zambia. At the individual level, there was no significant association between CSA and wealth status while at the community level, there was no significant association between CSA and socio-economic position. However, 22% of the variation in CSA was attributed to the community level factors. In study III, there was significant variation in the odds of reporting CSA across the communities, with community level factors accounting for 18% of the variation. In addition, respondents from communities with a high family disruption rate were 57% more likely to have reported sexual abuse in childhood. Study IV showed that there was a significant association between CSA and sexual risk behaviours and the association was mediated by alcohol and cigarette use.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> The study provides evidence that adolescents in the same community were subjected to common contextual influences. It also highlighted the significance of mediators in the relationship between CSA and sexual risk behaviours. It is therefore important that effective preventive strategies are developed and implemented that will cut across all socio-economic spheres in a context that both permits and encourages disclosure as well as identifying predisposing circumstances for recurrence.</p>Mon, 12 May 2014 14:08:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21919Sheila ZimicInternetgenerationen bit för bit : Representationer av IT och ungdom i ett informationssamhälle http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21926 <p>The aim of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding in relation to the construction of a ‘Net Generation’. With regards to the idea of an information society, technologies and young people are given certain positions, which are not in any sense natural but are socially constructed. This thesis explores these socially given meanings and shows what types of meanings are prioritized and legitimized. The exploration is conducted by examining, both externally and internally, given meanings of a generation identity. The external (nominal identification) in this study is understood as the construction of an abstract user and is studied by means of academic texts concerning the ‘Net Generation’. The internal (virtual identification) involves young people’s construction of their generation identity and is studied by means of collage. The collages are used to understand how the young participants position themselves in contemporary society and how they, as concrete users, articulate their relationship with information technologies.</p><p> </p><p>The findings show that the ‘type of behavior’ which is articulated in the signifying practice of the construction of the abstract user, ‘Net Generation’, reduces users and technology to a marketing / economical discourse. In addition the idea of the abstract user implies that all users have the same possibilities to achieve ‘success’ in the information society, by being active ‘prosumers’. The concrete users articulate that they feel stressed and pressured in relation to all the choices that they are expected to make. In this sense, the participants do not articulate the (economical) interests as assumed for the ‘Net Generation’, but, rather articulate interests to play, to have a hobby and be social when using information technologies.</p><p> </p><p>What this thesis thus proposes, is to critically explore the ‘taken for granted’ notions of a technological order in society as pertaining to young people. Only if we understand how socially given meaning is constructed can we break loose from the temporarily prioritized values to which the position of technology and users are fixed.</p>Mon, 12 May 2014 15:49:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21926Abtin DaghighiRegularity and uniqueness-related properties of solutions with respect to locally integrable structures http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21641 <p>We prove that a smooth generic embedded CR submanifold of C^n obeys the maximum principle for continuous CR functions if and only if it is weakly 1-concave. The proof of the maximum principle in the original manuscript has later been generalized to embedded weakly q-concave CR submanifolds of certain complex manifolds. We give a generalization of a known result regarding automatic smoothness of solutions to the homogeneous problem for the tangential CR vector fields given local holomorphic extension. This generalization ensures that a given locally integrable structure is hypocomplex at the origin if and only if it does not allow solutions near the origin which cannot be represented by a smooth function near the origin. We give a sufficient condition under which it holds true that if a smooth CR function f on a smooth generic embedded CR submanifold, M, of C^n, vanishes to infinite order along a C^infty-smooth curve \gamma in M, then f vanishes on an M-neighborhood of \gamma. We prove a local maximum principle for certain locally integrable structures.</p>Thu, 24 Apr 2014 10:53:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21641Xiaozhou MengTechnology Driven Obsolescence Management for Embedded Systems http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21744 <p>In this thesis, the work presented is in relation to technology driven obsolescence management for embedded systems.</p><p>Component obsolescence problems may occur in systems with a life cycle longer than that of one or more of their components when there is a demand without enough existing stock, such as automotive, avionics, military applications, etc. This thesis analyzes the component obsolescence problem from both the design technology selection and management perspectives.</p><p>Design technologies selection is associated with hardware and software. Several hardware platforms such as COTS and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) are discussed. FPGA intellectual property (IP) portability is emphasized which will affect the obsolescence management cost. Embedded software is also a crucial part for system sustainment. A risk analysis is performed in relation to long life cycle systems for different design technologies. Different platform cases are evaluated by analyzing the essence of each case and the consequences of different risk scenarios during system maintenance. This has shown that an FPGA platform with the vendor and device independent soft IPs has the highest maintainability and the minimum redesign cost.</p><p>The reuse of a predefined IP can shorten the development times and assist the designer to meet time-to-market (TTM) requirements. System migration between devices is unavoidable, especially when it has a long life cycle expectation, so IP portability becomes an important issue for system maintenance. If an IP for FPGAs is truly portable, it must be easily adaptable to different communication interfaces, being portable between different FPGA vendors and devices, having no dependencies on the tool set and library used for the system design and no restriction on the communication interface. An M-JPEG decoder and a soft microprocessor portability analysis case study are presented in the thesis. A methodology is proposed to ease the interface modification and interface reuse, thus to increase the portability of an IP.</p><p>A strategic proactive obsolescence management model is proposed from a management perspective. This model can estimate the minimum management costs for a system with different architectures. It consists of two parts. The first is to generate a graph, which is in the form of an obsolescence management diagram. A segments table containing the data of this diagram is calculated and prepared for optimization at a second step. This second part is to find the minimum cost for system obsolescence management. Mixed integer linear programming (MILP) is used to calculate the minimum management cost and schedule. The model is open sourced thus allowing other research groups to freely download and modify it.</p><p>Both the design technology selection and the strategic proactive obsolescence management are demonstrated by an industrial display computer system case study. The results show significant cost avoidance as compared to the original method used by the company.</p><p>Finally, the research results are encapsulated into an obsolescence management cost avoidance methodology. </p>Thu, 17 Apr 2014 10:39:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21744Dariusz ZasadowskiSelective Separation Of Wood Components In Internal Process Waters Originating From Mechanical Pulping http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22244 <p>Dissolved and Colloidal substances (DSC) and metals are released from woodduring thermomechanical pulp (TMP) production. These components have atendency to accumulate in process waters, as the water circulation systems inintegrated paper mills are closed. Disturbances such as pitch depositions in thepaper machine (pitch problems), specks in the paper, decreased wet and drystrength, interference with cationic process chemicals, and impaired sheetbrightness and friction properties appear when DSC are present. Transition metalions such as manganese results in higher consumption of bleaching chemicals(hydrogen peroxide) and lowers the optical quality of the final product, andaddition of complexing agents, such as EDTA or DTPA, to prevent this is needed.The never ending trends to decrease water consumption and increase processefficiency in pulp and paper production emphasizes that it is very important bothto know the effects of wood substances on pulping and papermaking and to beable to remove them in an efficient way. From a biorefinery point of view, DSCcomponents can be promising renewable raw materials for biofuels, bio‐basedchemicals and materials.In this thesis, a new approach using induced air flotation (IAF) without a cationicpolyelectrolyte addition for the removal of pitch and metal ions from mechanicalpulp mill process waters is presented. The induced air flotation of different processwaters is facilitated by the addition of a chelating surfactant and different foamingagents. The influence of the pH value, temperature and foaming agentconcentration on the flotation efficiency has been investigated. The investigations</p><p>presented show that the disturbing components can be removed from TMP presswater to a high extent. A 90% decrease in turbidity and a 91% removal of lipophilicextractives (i.e. resin and fatty acids, triglycerides, sterols and steryl esters) fromunbleached and bleached TMP process water can be obtained by addition of acationic surfactant as foaming agent during flotation. Lower amount of foamingagent is needed to purify efficiently bleached TMP process water, than unbleached.Additionally, fibres located in TMP press water are not removed with the foamfraction but purified. A retained concentration of hydrophilic extractives (i.e.hemicelluloses and lignans) in the process water indicates that the flotation isselective. Moreover, by introduction of a new recoverable surface activecomplexing agent, a chelating surfactant, manganese ions in the form of chelatescan be successfully removed from the pulp fibres and separated from the processwater in the same flotation process. Furthermore, from the purified unbleachedTMP process water a 90% recovery of dissolved hemicelluloses by anti‐solventprecipitation was obtained.The findings presented above indicate new possibilities for the internal watercleaning stage to decrease DSC emissions to recipient and for recovery of valuableraw materials from purified process water if flotation technology is applied in anintegrated mechanical pulp mill.</p>Fri, 27 Jun 2014 08:28:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22244Omeime Xerviar EsebamenCharacterization of interface states & radiation damage effects in duo-lateral PSDs : Using SEM microscopy and UV beam profiling techniques http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22221 <p>There has been an increase in the use of duo‐lateral position sensitive detectors inpractically every radiation and beam detection application. These devices unlike other light detection system utilize the effect of the lateral division of the generated photocurrent to measure the position of the integral focus of an incoming lightsignal. The performance of a PSD is impaired or strengthened by a number of events caused by parameters such as interface states and recombination introduced during the fabrication of the detector and/or its absorption of ionizing particles. This thesis show the results from the successful implementation of alternative characterization methods of these effects and parameters using scanning electronmicroscopy and UV beam profiling techniques on duo‐lateral position sensitive detectors (LPSDs). To help create the groundwork for the research content of this thesis, different technical reviews of previous studies on interface states, surface recombination velocity and radiation damage due to continuous absorption of ionizing irradiation on detectors are investigated. The thesis also examines published theoretical and measurement techniques used to characterize these surface/interface phenomena. The PSDs used in this research were developed using silicon technology and the various methodologies put into the fabrication of the detectors (n+p and p+n structures) were fashioned after the simulated models. The various steps associated with the clean room fabrication and the prior simulation steps are highlighted in the content of the thesis. Also discussed are the measurement techniques used incharacterizing the fixed oxide charge, surface recombination and the position deviation error of the LPSDs in a high vacuum environment of a scanning electron microscope SEM chamber. Using this method, the effects of interface states and surface recombination velocity on the responsivity of differently doped LPSDs were investigated. By lithographically patterning grid‐like structures used as scaleon n+p doped LPSD and using sweeping electrons from the SEM microscope, a very high linearity over the two‐dimensions of the LPSD total active area was observed. An improved responsivity for low energetic electrons was also achievedby the introduced n+p structure. The lithographically patterned grids helped eliminate further external measurement errors and uncertainties from the use of other typical movable measurement devices such as actuators and two dimensional adjusters which would normally be difficult to install in a remote vacuum chamber. In a similar vein, field plate and field rings were patterned around an array ofthe PSDs used as pixel detector(s). By studying the interpixel resistance and breakdown characteristics, the most effective structural arrangement of the field plate and field rings used to curb induced inversion channel between the n+ doped regions of the pixel‐detector is observed. By using UV beam profiling after the irradiation of UV (193 nm or 253 nm) beam on n+p and p+n doped PSDs, the degree of radiation damage was also investigated. The results obtained help to illustrate how prolonged UV radiation can impact on the linearity and the position deviation/error of UV detectors. The results in this thesis are most relevant in spectroscopic and microscopic applications where low energy electrons and medium UV (MUV) radiation are used.</p>Thu, 19 Jun 2014 10:58:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22221Mats HyvönenLokalpressens självbilder 1920-2010 : Exemplet Gävleborg http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22578 <p>The newspaper press is in a state of flux, reflecting both technological, cultural, economic and political changes. The digitization of the media is expected to bring about major changes in the media landscape and many are predicting the demise of the traditional newspaper.</p><p>However, the media landscape has always been in transition and the press has always had to adapt to new competing media as well as new economic circumstances. The focus of this study is on the meaning production of newspapers and the overarching question is how, at different times, newspapers have marketed their products, communicated their identities and legitimated their privileges.</p><p>The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the self-images of local newspapers in a historical perspective. It contributes to the study of the media history of the press by investigating how four local newspapers in the county of Gävleborg in Sweden have formulated and communicated their self-images over time. <em>Self-image</em> is defined broadly and contains different meanings of, and aspects on, the concept of newspaper. A common feature of the texts included in the empirical material of this study is that they, in different ways, describe what the newspaper is, what it does, how and/or why.</p><p>The period studied comprises ninety years, from 1920 and the time of the modernisation of the Swedish press after the First World War, until 2010 and the changing media landscape of today. The overarching questions for this study are: (1) What aspects of newspaper (institution or individual newspaper, opinion making or news reporting, the organisation or the audience) have been emphasised in the meaning production at different times? (2) What differences and similarities are there between the different newspapers regarding the self-images? (3) How have the self-images changed over time?</p><p>The study concludes with a historical periodisation covering the most important changes in the self-images. The period studied is divided into four sub-periods in which different aspects of newspaper have been prominent in the self-images: (1) <em>Mobilization</em> (1920-1945). The newspapers are described primarily as a means of political mobilization and the medium is understood as a political tool or weapon. (2) <em>News reporting</em> (1935-1965). The newspapers (and their supporting technologies, especially the teleprinter) are characterised as a fast and technologically sophisticated media between the readers and the world beyond the local. (3) <em>Critique</em> (1965-1995). The local newspapers portray themselves as scrutinizers of the local governments and others in power. (4) <em>Construction</em> (1995-2010). The newspapers start to describe themselves as constructors and maintainers of local communities and identities. In a globalized and boundless world, the local newspapers provide their readers with a sense of place and community.</p><p>The overall conclusion of this dissertation is that the self-images of the local press has undergone significant changes in the period studied. What the press – according to itself – is, what it does, how and why, and to whom, are questions that have received very different answers at various moments in history.</p>Mon, 18 Aug 2014 08:33:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22578Jörgen SparfTillit i samhällsskyddets organisation : Om det sociala gränssnittet i risk- och krishantering mellan kommunen och funktionshindrade http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22651 <p>Systemet för samhällsskydd och beredskap i Sverige har sedan 1990-talet genomgått en rad förändringar gällande juridik, organisering och ansvar. Framför allt har kommunernas ansvar inom området ökat och systemet har kommit att bli mer beroende av aktörer i lokalsamhället. Dessutom har den enskilde individen fått ett ökat ansvar och är idag en självklar aktör i systemet. De i området styrande principerna om ansvar, likhet och närhet föreskriver att störningar i kommunal verksamhet ska hanteras av de roller som bedriver verksamheten i normala fall. Det innebär att störningar eller kriser i en verksamhet som exempelvis den kommunala omsorgen ska hanteras och lösas av den ordinarie personalen. Systemets ordning i kombination med principerna gör därför att frågor om säkerhet och trygghet för den enskilda omsorgstagaren hamnar i gränssnittet mellan individen och organisationen. Avhandlingens syfte är att fördjupa kunskapen om relationen mellan funktionshindrade personer och kommunens organisation för samhällsskydd och beredskap gällande trygghet och säkerhet. Fyra separata empiriska delstudier från Sverige inkluderas. Den första undersöker kvantitativt vilka riskuppfattningar personer med funktionshinder har och om kan de förklaras av funktionshindret. Övriga tre delstudier är kvalitativa och studerar i tur och ordning: hur risk- och sårbarhetsfrågor manifesteras, erfars och hanteras av funktionshindrade; hur kommuner organiserar för samhällsskydd och beredskap på lokal nivå och vilken roll kommunen har på det lokala verksamhetsfältet för detta; hur en faktisk krisartad situation hanterades på olika nivåer av den kommunala vård- och omsorgen. De två studierna om funktionshindrade visade att tillit är central för hur riskuppfattningen formas och att den vardagsnära säkerheten är viktig. Personerna utvecklar strategier för att hantera sårbarhet genom att undvika vissa situationer, att visa eller dölja sina behov och att lära sig stå ut med att saker och ting tar lång tid. Detta formar ett interpretationsramverk för trygghet och säkerhet där kroppen speglas som objekt och social representation. Därmed kan kroppen likställas med andra sociala representationer och försvaras, riskförebyggas och skademinimeras. Den första kommunstudien visar att den lokala organiseringen av samhällsskydd och beredskap sker på liknande sätt över landet. Däremot har den kommunala funktionen för skydd och säkerhet att hantera olika organisatoriska relationer med distinkt skilda karaktärer. Relationen till den kommunala organisationen i stort är labyrintartad till följd av rationalitetsproblem inom ändamålsenlighet, mål, ansvarsförläggande och uppföljning är oklara eller helt enkelt saknas; relationen till de kommunala förvaltningarna präglas hierarkiproblem genom brist på auktoritet, legitimitet och exekutiv makt; relationen till externa aktörer uppvisar problem med identitet till följd av brist på resurser och tydlig organisation. Den andra kommunstudien visar att den tid-rumsliga inramningen av en störning i det kommunala dricksvattnet skilde sig åt mellan olika organisatoriska nivåer och att störningen hanterades genom en aktiv agens där tillit och handlingsutrymme var avgörande. Avhandlingens övergripande analys utifrån tillitsteori landar i att medan det tidigare systemet för samhällsskydd och beredskap präglades av en instrumentell tillit med vertikalt riktad makt och en problemlösningsförväntan, är dagens system mer beroende av en humanitär tillit med horisontell maktfördelning och med förväntan på att hantera sårbarhet. De tre teoretiska sårbarhetsformerna beroende, oförutsägbarhet och oåterkallelighet föreslås på den lokala samhällsnivån kunna reduceras med de tre tillitsmekanismerna autenticitet, legitimitet respektive transparens. Det är en typ av tillit som är bättre anpassad för det gränssnitt mellan den enskilda individen och organisationen där vi hittar mycket av ansvaret för trygghets- och säkerhetsfrågor idag.</p>Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:27:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22651Annika Kjällman AlmLong-Term Ongoing Structured Support in Early Stage of Dementia: A Family Affair http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22673 <p>Demenssjukdomar drabbar mer än 35 miljoner människor världen över, en summa som kommer att fördubblas vart tjugonde år.</p><p> Demens är en global störning av intellektuella funktioner: förmågan att minnas försämras, och förmågor som att orientera sig i tid och rum, språklig förmåga, tankeprocesser som att gå från tanke till handling, problemlösande, utföra saker praktiskt och känna igen föremål. Symtomen följs ofta av förändringar i beteende och personlighet, som låg initiativförmåga, irritation, grovt socialt beteende och humörsvängningar. I Sverige diagnostiseras 25 000 personer per år, totalt så lever 160 000 personer med sjukdomen i Sverige idag. I Sverige ställs diagnosen ofta utifrån blodprover, hjärnröntgen och Mini Mental Score Evaluation-Swedish Revision tillsammans med personens sjukdomshistoria.</p><p> </p><p>Efter diagnosen har ofta anhöriga många frågor om hur livet kommer att te sig framöver, är det bra att flytta eller ska man bo kvar? Hur kommer sjukdomen att förändra livet och personligheten hos den drabbade? Tidigare studier visar att dessa frågor ofta förblir obesvarade, det är svårt att få en uppföljning hos läkare och det finns få länder där stöd efter diagnosen är vanligt förekommande.</p><p> Sverige har sen 2009 lagstiftat om rätten till stöd till anhöriga och närstående med demenssjukdom eller andra kroniska sjukdomar med funktionshinder. Typen av stöd som ges skiljer sig däremot åt, Socialstyrelsen kom därför hösten 2013 ut med riktlinjer för hur stödet bör se ut för att vara effektivt: 8-10 träffar under 3-6 månader med information och socialt stöd till anhöriga.</p><p>En kommun i norra delen av Sverige har gett långvarigt stöd till personer med demenssjukdom och deras anhöriga sen 2006.</p><p>Ett nära samarbete med Landstinget i regionen och på senare tid även privata vårdcentraler i området har lett till att stöd kan erbjudas i direkt samband med diagnostillfället. Personerna deltar ofta i stödgrupp inom ca 4-6 veckor efter sin diagnos. Avhandlingens syfte var att fördjupa kunskapen om personernas upplevelse av att vara i stödgrupp under lång tid; den längsta i 4 år. Intervjuer gjordes med anhöriga och personer med demenssjukdom.</p><p>Resultaten visade att de par som varit med längst i stödgrupp kände sig trygga, de upplevde att de fick god kunskap om demens och var förberedda på den förändring som skulle komma. Resultaten visade också att vara vuxet barn till en person med demens innebar att vara tyngd av ansvar för att agera i den sjuka förälderns intresse trots en djup känsla av sorg of förlust vilket ofta leder till frustration med situationen. Relationerna inom familjen kan förändras efter demens diagnosen både till det bättre; att man sluter upp kring den demenssjuke föräldern men också till det sämre; att familjen splittras då relationerna utsätts för påfrestningar. Personerna med demenssjukdom som deltog i stödgrupperna upplevde och skattade sin känsla av sammanhang högt; att livet var meningsfullt, begripligt och hanterbart. Deras friska partner upplevde mindre begriplighet och hanterbarhet och de vuxna barnen mer meningsfullhet.</p><p>Avhandlingens resultat har legat till grund för en modell för stöd till personer med demenssjukdom och deras anhöriga kallat PER-modellen<sup>®;</sup> Pedagogisk, Emotionell och Relationsbaserad modell för stöd.</p>Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:32:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22673Catarina ArvidsonGenuspedagogers berättelser om makt och kontroll http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21625 <p>In this thesis 14 gender pedagogues’ stories about power and control are described and analysed. Here the term gender pedagogue refers to educators who have participated in further training in gender and gender equality studies. The training programme was the result of an initiative taken by the former Social Democratic government. The intention of the government was that those who participated in the training programme would then work as resource persons in the work for gender equality in preschools and schools (Frånberg, 2010; Regeringen, 2001a, 2001b; Wahlgren, 2009). <em>The purpose of this study is to describe and analyse the gender pedagogues’ access to power and control in work for change</em>. The theoretical framework chosen for the study consists of Basil Bernsteins concepts classification and framing (Bernstein, 1977, 2000) and Hildur Ve’s (1999a, 1999b) use of the concepts technical limited rationality and care work rationality. The empirical evidence is based on observations in a seminar series on gender issues and semi-structured interviews. The results of the interviews are presented as stories which have been created in the interplay between the gender pedagogues and the interviewer. One conclusion that can be drawn from the stories is that power relations and gender patterns on many different levels influenced the possibilities of the gender pedagogues for power and control. Power and control in the relation between technical limited rationality and care work rationality is expressed in different ways. It is seen in the possibilities and descriptions of resistance and difficulties. Resistance and difficulties depended, according to the gender pedagogues, on the differences between their own view of knowledge and that of others. If gender and gender equality was not considered to be an important area of knowledge, possibilities for power and control decreased.</p>Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:16:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21625Jessica JönssonLocalised Globalities and Social Work : Contemporary Challenges http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21587 <p>Recent global and structural transformations, a West-centric development agenda and the triumph of neoliberal politics have led to destructive consequences for many local communities and individual life chances. The global dominance of the West-centric development agenda, with its roots in the colonial past, has created uneven developments and an unjust world in which Western countries continue to gain advantages and increase their prosperity. Although a minority elite in many non-Western countries share the same interests as Western countries and their global organs, the majority of people in these countries are suffering from increasing socioeconomic inequalities. As a result of the dogmatic belief in a singular and West-centric modernity and its practices, many problems are considered to be the result of non-Western countries’ inabilities to complete the project of modernity in accordance with Western blueprints. This has also influenced social work as a global and modern profession. Social problems are often individualised and the reasons behind many inequalities are increasingly related to non-Western people’s individual shortcomings and traditional cultural backgrounds. In Western and non-Western countries equally are the neoliberal structural and institutional transformations ignored and social problems of individuals and families defined as a matter of wrong and deviant actions and choices.</p><p>The main objective of the dissertation, which is constituted of four articles and an overall introduction and summary, is to examine the consequences of recent neoliberal globalisation based on the belief in a single and West-centric modernity and development agenda and their consequences for social work facing increasing global inequalities. The following research questions have guided the work: ‘How can social work play an effective role in combating social problems and otherisation, marginalisation and increasing inequalities in a globalised world?’, ‘How does the global development agenda function within the local arenas of social work?’, ‘Are development projects improving people’s life chances in local communities in non-Western countries?’, ‘How informed and responsive are social workers towards the global context of local problems?’</p><p>The work is based on a qualitative design using qualitative content analysis for analysing data collected through interviews, participant observations and official documents. The results show that irrespective of where and in which context social problems are appearing, since local problems often have global roots, a global perspective to local problems should be included in every practices of social work in order to develop new methods of practices in an increasingly globalised field of work. Destruction of local communities, forced migration from non-Western countries, and marginalisation of people with immigrant background in Western countries should not be considered only as local problems, but also as problems with their roots in global structural inequalities which reproduces global social problems with local consequences.</p><p>It is argued that social work should consider the dilemmas and problems connected to the taken for granted West-centric theories, understandings and practices of social work in order to develop new methods of practices for combating social problems, marginalisation and increasing inequalities in a globalised world. Such a position includes practicing multilevel social work, social work in global alliances beyond the division of East and West, and mobilisation against neoliberalism and the retreat of the welfare state. This requires critical standpoints against the relationship between the global context of the neoliberal ideology and practices in a Western-dominated and postcolonial world and the daily practices of social work.</p><p> </p><p> </p>Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:01:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21587Khurram ShahzadEnergy Efficient Wireless Sensor Node Architecture for Data and Computation Intensive Applications http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21956 <p>Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), in addition to enabling monitoring solutions for numerous new applications areas, have gained huge popularity as a cost-effective, dynamically scalable, easy to deploy and maintainable alternatives to conventional infrastructure-based monitoring solutions.</p><p>A WSN consists of spatially distributed autonomous wireless sensor nodes that measure desired physical phenomena and operate in a collaborative manner to relay the acquired information wirelessly to a central location. A wireless sensor node, integrating the required resources to enable infrastructure-less distributed monitoring, is constrained by its size, cost and energy. In order to address these constraints, a typical wireless sensor node is designed based on low-power and low-cost modules that in turn provide limited communication and processing performances. Data and computation intensive wireless monitoring applications, on the other hand, not only demand higher communication bandwidth and computational performance but also require practically feasible operational lifetimes so as to reduce the maintenance cost associated with the replacement of batteries. In relation to the communication and processing requirements of such applications and the constraints associated with a typical wireless sensor node, this thesis explores energy efficient wireless sensor node architecture that enables realization of data and computation intensive applications.</p><p>Architectures enabling raw data transmission and in-sensor processing with various technological alternatives are explored. The potential architectural alternatives are evaluated both analytically and quantitatively with regards to different design parameters, in particular, the performance and the energy consumption. For quantitative evaluation purposes, the experiments are conducted on vibration and image-based industrial condition monitoring applications that are not only data and computation intensive but also are of practical importance.</p><p>Regarding the choice of an appropriate wireless technology in an architecture enabling raw data transmission, standard based communication technologies including infrared, mobile broadband, WiMax, LAN, Bluetooth, and ZigBee are investigated. With regards to in-sensor processing, different architectures comprising of sequential processors and FPGAs are realized to evaluate different design parameters, especially the performance and energy efficiency. Afterwards, the architectures enabling raw data transmission only and those involving in-sensor processing are evaluated so as to find an energy efficient solution. The results of this investigation show that in-sensor processing architecture, comprising of an FPGA for computation purposes, is more energy efficient when compared with other alternatives in relation to the data and computation intensive applications.</p><p>Based on the results obtained and the experiences learned in the architectural evaluation study, an FPGA-based high-performance wireless sensor platform, the SENTIOF, is designed and developed. In addition to performance, the SETNIOF is designed to enable dynamic optimization of energy consumption. This includes enabling integrated modules to be completely switched-off and providing a fast configuration support to the FPGA.</p><p> In order to validate the results of the evaluation studies, and to assess the performance and energy consumption of real implementations, both the vibration and image-based industrial monitoring applications are realized using the SENTIOF. In terms of computational performance for both of these applications, the real-time processing goals are achieved. For example, in the case of vibration-based monitoring, real-time processing performance for tri-axes (horizontal, vertical and axial) vibration data are achieved for sampling rates of more than 100 kHz.</p><p>With regards to energy consumption, based on the measured power consumption that also includes the power consumed during the FPGA’s configuration process, the operational lifetimes are estimated using a single cell battery (similar to an AA battery in terms of shape and size) with a typical capacity of 2600 mA. In the case of vibration-based condition monitoring, an operational lifetime of more than two years can be achieved for duty-cycle interval of 10 minutes or more. The achievable operational lifetime of image-based monitoring is more than 3 years for a duty-cycle interval of 5 minutes or more. </p>Mon, 26 May 2014 13:19:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21956Wei ShenA Protocol Framework for Adaptive Real-Time Communication in Industrial Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22110 <p>Low-power and resource-constrained wireless technology has been regarded as an emerging technology that introduces a paradigm shift in a wide range of applications such as industrial automation, smart grid, home automation and so on. The automation industry has significant contributions to economic revenues, job opportunities and world-class research. The low-power and resource-constrained wireless technology has brought new opportunity and challenges for industrial automation. The solutions of such wireless technology offer benefits in relation to lower cost and more flexible deployments/maintenances than the wired solutions, and new applications that are not possible with wired communication. However, these wireless solutions have been introducing new challenges. Wireless links are inherently unreliable, especially in industrial harsh environment, and wireless interference makes the problem even worse. Low-power consumption is required and real-time communication is generally crucial in industrial automation applications.</p><p>This research work addresses that industrial wireless sensor and actuator network (IWSAN) should even be designed to provide service differentiation for wireless medium access and adapt to link dynamics for scheduling algorithms on top of real-time services. Specifically, exceeding the required delay bound for unpredictable and emergency traffic in industrial automation applications could lead to system instability, economic and material losses, system failure and, ultimately, a threat to human safety. Therefore, guaranteeing the timely delivery of the IWSAN critical traffic and its prioritization over regular traffic (e.g. non-critical monitoring traffic) is a significant topic. In addition, the state-of-the-art researches address a multitude of objectives for scheduling algorithms in IWSAN. However, the adaptation to the dynamics of a realistic wireless sensor network has not been investigated in a satisfactory manner. This is a key issue considering the challenges within industrial applications, given the time-constraints and harsh environments.</p><p>In response to those challenges, a protocol framework for adaptive real-time communication in IWSAN is proposed. It mainly consists of a priority-based medium access protocol (MAC) and its extension for routing critical traffic, a hybrid scheme for acyclic traffic, and adaptive scheduling algorithms. To the best of our knowledge, the priority-based MAC solution is the first priority-enhanced MAC protocol compatible with industrial standards for IWSAN. The proposed solutions have been implemented in TinyOS and evaluated on a test-bed of Telosb motes and the TOSSIM network simulator. The experimental results indicate that the proposed priority-based solutions are able to efficiently handle different traffic categories and achieve a significant improvement in the delivery latency. The hybrid scheme for acyclic traffic increases the throughput and reduces the delay compared to the current industrial standards. Numerical results show that the adaptive scheduling algorithms improve the quality of service for the entire network. They achieve significant improvements for realistic dynamic wireless sensor networks when compared to existing scheduling algorithms with the aim to minimize latency for real-time communication.</p>Thu, 12 Jun 2014 08:27:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22110Sebastian SchwarzGaining Depth : Time-of-Flight Sensor Fusion for Three-Dimensional Video Content Creation http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21938 <p>The successful revival of three-dimensional (3D) cinema has generated a great deal of interest in 3D video. However, contemporary eyewear-assisted displaying technologies are not well suited for the less restricted scenarios outside movie theaters. The next generation of 3D displays, autostereoscopic multiview displays, overcome the restrictions of traditional stereoscopic 3D and can provide an important boost for 3D television (3DTV). Then again, such displays require scene depth information in order to reduce the amount of necessary input data. Acquiring this information is quite complex and challenging, thus restricting content creators and limiting the amount of available 3D video content. Nonetheless, without broad and innovative 3D television programs, even next-generation 3DTV will lack customer appeal. Therefore simplified 3D video content generation is essential for the medium's success.</p><p>This dissertation surveys the advantages and limitations of contemporary 3D video acquisition. Based on these findings, a combination of dedicated depth sensors, so-called Time-of-Flight (ToF) cameras, and video cameras, is investigated with the aim of simplifying 3D video content generation. The concept of Time-of-Flight sensor fusion is analyzed in order to identify suitable courses of action for high quality 3D video acquisition. In order to overcome the main drawback of current Time-of-Flight technology, namely the high sensor noise and low spatial resolution, a weighted optimization approach for Time-of-Flight super-resolution is proposed. This approach incorporates video texture, measurement noise and temporal information for high quality 3D video acquisition from a single video plus Time-of-Flight camera combination. Objective evaluations show benefits with respect to state-of-the-art depth upsampling solutions. Subjective visual quality assessment confirms the objective results, with a significant increase in viewer preference by a factor of four. Furthermore, the presented super-resolution approach can be applied to other applications, such as depth video compression, providing bit rate savings of approximately 10 percent compared to competing depth upsampling solutions. The work presented in this dissertation has been published in two scientific journals and five peer-reviewed conference proceedings. </p><p>In conclusion, Time-of-Flight sensor fusion can help to simplify 3D video content generation, consequently supporting a larger variety of available content. Thus, this dissertation provides important inputs towards broad and innovative 3D video content, hopefully contributing to the future success of next-generation 3DTV.</p>Fri, 16 May 2014 10:16:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21938Bishnu Chandra PoudelCarbon Balance Implications Of Forest Biomass Production Potential http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22075 <p>Forests in boreal and temperate forest-ecosystems have an important function since they sequester atmospheric carbon by uptake of carbon-dioxide in photosynthesis, and transfer and store carbon in the forest ecosystem. Forest material can be used for bio-fuel purposes and substitute fossil fuels, and supply wood products, which can replace carbon- and energy-intensive materials. Therefore it is vital to consider the role of forests regarding today´s aim to mitigate climate change. This thesis assess (i) how climate change affects future forest carbon balance, (ii) the importance of different strategies for forest management systems, and biomass production for the carbon balance, (iii) how the use of forest production affect the total carbon balance in a lifecycle perspective, and (iv) how the Swedish carbon balance is affected from the standpoint of both the actual use of forest raw material within Sweden and what Swedish forestry exports. The analysis was made mainly in a long-term perspective (60-300 year) to illustrate the importance of temporal and also the spatial perspective, as the analysis includes stand level, landscape level, and national level. In this thesis, forestry was considered a system. All activities, from forest regeneration to end use of forest products, were entities of this system. In the evaluation, made from a systems perspective, we used life-cycle analysis to estimate carbon stock in different system flows. Different forest management systems and forest production were integrated in the analyses. Different forest management scenarios were designed for the Swedish forest management in combination with the effect of future climate change; (i) intensive forest practice aiming at increased growth, (ii) increased forest set-aside areas, changes in forest management systems for biomass production, and (iii) how the use of forest production affect the total carbon balance (construction material, bioenergy and other domestic use). The results showed that future climate changes and intensive forest management with increased production could increase the biomass production and the potential use of forest raw material. This has a positive effect on carbon storage for the forest carbon stock, litter production and carbon storage in the ground etc. and help mitigating carbon-dioxide. Increased forest set-aside areas can increase the short-term carbon stock in forest ecosystems, but will reduce the total long-term carbon balance. The net carbon balance for clear-cut forestry did not differ significantly from continuous-cover forestry, but was rather a question of level of growth. Most important, in the long term, was according to our analysis, how forest raw material is used. Present Swedish forestry and use of forest raw material, both within Sweden and abroad, reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and mitigate climate change. The positive effect for the total carbon balance and climate benefit take place mostly abroad, due to the Swedish high level of export of wood products and the higher substitution effects achieved outside Swedish borders. One strategy is to increase production, harvest and change the use of Swedish forest raw material to replace more carbon intensive material, which can contribute to significant emission reduction. Carbon-dioxide mitigation, as a result of present Swedish forestry, was shown to be almost of the same level as the total yearly emission of greenhouse gases. The total carbon benefit would increase if the biomass production and felling increased and if Swedish wood products replaced carbon intensive materials.This thesis shows also that, by changing forest management, increase the growth and the use of forest raw material and export of forest material we can contribute to even larger climate benefits. In a long-term perspective, the substitution effects and replacement of carbon- and energy-intensive materials are of greater significance than carbon storage effects in forests. A more production oriented forestry needs to make balances and increase the prerequisite for biological diversity, improve recreation possibilities, and protect sensitive land areas and watersheds.Climate benefits, from Swedish forestry, are highly dependent on policy decision-making and how that can steer the direction for the Swedish forestry.</p>Tue, 3 Jun 2014 12:48:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22075Ida SvanedalFundamental Characterization and Technical Aspects of a Chelating Surfactant http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21405 <p>The purpose of this study was to investigate the fundamental characteristics of a chelating surfactant in terms of solution behaviour, chelation of divalent metal ions, and interaction in mixtures with different foaming agents and divalent metal ion, as well as examining its prospects in some practical applications. Chelating surfactants are functional molecules, with both surface active and chelating properties, which are water soluble and therefore suitable for chelation in many aqueous environments. The dual functionality offers the possibility to recover the chelating surfactant as well as the metals.</p><p>The DTPA (diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid)-based chelating surfactant 4-C<sub>12</sub>-DTPA (2-dodecyldiethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid) was synthesized at Mid Sweden University. In the absence of metal ions, all eight donor atoms in the headgroup of 4-C<sub>12</sub>-DTPA are titrating and the headgroup charge can be tuned from +3 to -5 by altering the pH. The solution properties, studied by surface tension measurements and NMR diffusometry, were consequently found strongly pH dependent. pH measurements of chelating surfactant solutions as a function of concentration was used to extract information regarding the interaction between surfactants in the aggregation process.</p><p>Small differences in the conditional stability constants (log <em>K</em>) between coordination complexes of DTPA and 4-C<sub>12</sub>-DTPA, determined by competition measurements utilizing electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), indicated that the hydrocarbon tail only affected the chelating ability of the headgroup to a limited extent. This was further confirmed in hydrogen peroxide bleaching of thermomechanical pulp (TMP) treated with 4-C<sub>12</sub>-DTPA.</p><p>Interaction parameters for mixed systems of 4-C<sub>12</sub>-DTPA and different foaming agents were calculated following the approach of Rubingh’s regular solution theory. The mixtures were also examined with addition of divalent metal ions in equimolar ratio to the chelating surfactant. Strong correlation was found between the interaction parameter and the phase transfer efficiency of Ni<sup>2+</sup> ions during flotations. Furthermore, a significant difference in log <em>K</em> between different metal complexes with 4-C<sub>12</sub>-DTPA enabled selective recovery of the metal ion with the highest log <em>K</em>.</p><p>The findings in this study contribute to the understanding of the fundamental characteristics of chelating surfactants, which can be further utilized in practical applications.</p>Thu, 20 Feb 2014 14:05:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21405Fredrik CarlssonWood Fungi and Forest Fire http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23062 <p>Forest fires have been the major stand-replacing/modifying disturbance in boreal forests. To adapt to fire disturbance, different strategies have evolved. This thesis focuses on wood fungi, and the effect of forest fire on this organism group. In many ways it is a study on adaptation to forest fire, in concurrence with adaptation to dry open habitats. In Paper I we study increased heat resistance in mycelia from species prevalent in fire prone environments. Fungi were cultivated on fresh wood and exposed to different temperatures. Species prevalent in fire affected habitats had a much higher survival rate over all combinations of time and temperature compared to species associated with other environments. Based on this results the competitiveness was tested after temperature stress (paper II), three fire associated species, were tested against three non fire associated species. All fire associated species had a clear advantage after heat treatment, conquering a larger volume of wood than its competitor. In paper III we studied the effect of heat shock on decomposition rate, 18 species was tested. Species were cultivated and monitored for CO<sub>2</sub> accumulation for 8 weeks and then heat shocked. All species including non fire associated species seemed to up-regulate decomposition after heat shock, this response was more pronounced in fire associated species. To look at the possible effect of forest fire on population structure (Paper IV), we developed 29 SNP/INDELs for <em>Phlebiopsis. gigantea</em>. We amplified the marker containing fragments in 132 individuals of <em>P. gigantea</em> in 6 populations, 3 which were found in areas affected by forest fire and 3 in unaffected areas. We found no genetic structure in accordance to forest fire. However we detected geographic structure, which stands in contrast to earlier studies. This might be due to the method, using SNP´s and number of individuals in the study. Finally we collected cross-sections of decayed logs to evaluate the number of fungal species domains that are likely to be hit when drilling a saw-dust sample in a log. We used these estimates to simulate how many species that will be found by a certain number of samples. We found that in 99% of the</p>Thu, 25 Sep 2014 09:57:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23062Cecilia DalborgGAMLA VILLFARELSER och NYA VERKLIGHETER? : En studie om föreställningar och förutsättningar för entreprenörskap http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22958 <p>In most countries around the world, women owned businesses form an important and significant part of the overall entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is fundamental for the prosperity of a country and for that reason there are constant efforts in order to create a favourable and equal business condition. The knowledge about entrepreneurship is continuously increasing and has, among other things, resulted in perceptions of <em>who</em> is an entrepreneur, <em>what</em> constitutes growth, and strategies for <em>how</em> gender equality in entrepreneurship should be promoted. The increased knowledge, and the specific strategies and targeted measures designed to increase women's share in the business world seem, however, not to have resulted in a more equal entrepreneurship. The purpose of the present study is to identify and analyze factors that are considered to affect start-up and growth decisions of women and men, and, to propose a conceptual model that shows how gender-linked beliefs (i.e. fallacies) about entrepreneurship growth and support systems can be obstacles for gender equality in entrepreneurship. Respondents in the thesis are entrepreneurs, women and men, in the county of Jämtland. The results from the five papers in the thesis show that women and men have a high passion and a strong self-efficacy to start businesses but that women's passion is negatively affected because of a higher risk perception. Another important result is that growth can be considered from a qualitative perspective where growth involves both a quest for survival and personal development. Women entrepreneurs do want employment growth but the condition for that is that they need access to a fair support system already in the previous lifecycle phases. The results further show that the current support system comprises a narrow definition of growth and that gender questions do not seem to have had an impact when allocating government funds. Together, the above results help to dispel some of the existing conceptions of reality. The thesis concludes: Women, as well as men, possess the passion and the self-efficacy to start and growth a business, but women are not perceived as potential growth entrepreneurs, and therefore they only receive a fraction of the total business support. This leads to a higher risk perception which cancels out the influence of passion on women’s start-up decision. Previous strategies for business equality in Sweden do not seem to have been successful. Instead strategies must be reshaped and based on a conception of reality where both women and men are considered growth entrepreneurs.</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: entrepreneurship, women entrepreneurs, risk, passion, self-efficacy, gender equality, business life cycle, business support system.</p>Mon, 15 Sep 2014 13:37:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22958Ann-Katrin PerselliFrån datasal till en-till-en : En studie av lärares erfarenheter av digitala resurser i undervisningen http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22695 <p>In this thesis a study upper secondary school teachers’ experiences from using digital resources is presented. The study was carried out in two upper secondary schools where the students had each recently been given their own laptop, a so-called one-to-one computer. The purpose of the study was to describe and analyse the teachers’ experiences of using digital resources in teaching. Four teachers, three men and one woman, from two upper secondary schools in a Swedish municipality, participated in the study. Empirical material was collected during autumn 2010 and spring 2012. The methods used in the collection were interviews and participatory observations, so-called go-along observations. The study’s theoretical approach has its foundation in phenomenological philosophy. In the result care, time and teachers’ lived experiences of didactic work emerge as important for the utilisation of digital resources in teaching. In the teaching, the teachers’ experiences and knowledge of their subjects, teaching, digital resources, and life experiences and knowledge seemed to interact. This interaction between experiences and knowledge is described in the study as lived experiences of didactic work. The study shows that teachers dealt with the new digital technology and designed learning environments for the students with the starting point of their lived experiences of didactic work and assumptions about the students’ interest for digital resources. The teachers’ care with relationship building and creation of trust and confidence was shown to have importance for how, and to what extent, digital resources could be used in teaching. Both similarities and differences in the teachers’ experiences of, and knowledge about, how teaching is carried out with one-to-one computers emerged in the study. Two of the teachers were more experienced users of digital resources in comparison with the two others. The teachers’ experiences of digital resources are often related to their own interest in these, but their experiences are also related to the lack of time for learning to use digital resources as pedagogical tools. </p>Wed, 3 Sep 2014 10:59:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22695Erika WallinThe Scents of Nature : Identification and Synthesis of Bioactive Compounds Used in Insect Communication http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22821 <p>Pest insects cause great financial losses in the forest and food industry every year. To fight these pests industries have used insecticides, which are sometimes harmful to nature and humans. One potential way of avoiding insecticides is the use of integrated pest management based on insect communication, which would offer species-specific methods for protecting forest and food resources. Insects use chemicals known as semiochemicals for both intra- and interspecies communication. By learning how insects use these semio-chemicals to talk to each other we can eavesdrop and mimic their communication for our benefit. One research area dealing with these questions is chemical ecology, which is an interdisciplinary area as knowledge in chemistry and biology is required. Collaborations between groups within and outside of Sweden are essential in order to make progress in this field of research.</p><p>This thesis presents the identification and synthesis of semiochemicals from several insect species, most of which are considered to be pests. Synthesised compounds have been sent to collaboration partners around Sweden and Europe for biological evaluations.</p><p>Studies of the African butterfly, <em>Bicyclus anynana</em>, have unravelled particular biological phenomena that may aid in the understanding of the <em>Bicyclus</em> genus, though recognizing individual species variation is crucial. In 2008 the putative male sex pheromone of <em>B. anynana</em> was determined to consist of three compounds: hexadecanal, (<em>Z</em>)-9-tetradecenol and 6,10,14-trimethylpentadecan-2-ol, and the specific stereoisomer for 6,10,14-trimethylpentadecan-2-ol has been determined in this thesis. The ratio of 6,10,14-trimethylpentadecan-2-ol and the corresponding ketone were investigated for seventeen <em>Bicyclus</em> species (including <em>B. anynana</em>) that live in overlapping regions in Africa. The stereochemistry was determined for most of the species and may provide a way to chemically distinguish them.</p><p>The orchid bees, <em>Euglossa</em> spp, are important pollinators of many orchids in Central America. Insight about pollination and conservation of endangered orchid species may be possible by gathering more information about the <em>Euglossa</em> genus. Males of the <em>Euglossa</em> genus have pouch-like structures on their hind legs where they store compounds collected from their surroundings. 6,10,14-Trimethyl-pentadecan-2-one is a common component of leg extracts from <em>Euglossa imperialis</em>, <em>E. crassipunctata</em> and <em>E. allosticta</em>, the specific stereochemistry of which has been determined in this thesis. Another, different compound was found in high amounts in <em>E. viridissima</em> and its structure has been elucidated; several synthetic pathways are under investigation to obtain the target compound.</p><p>Bed bugs (<em>Cimex lectularius</em> and <em>C. hemipterus</em>) are an ectoparasite that feed on human blood, and the number of reported infestations of these parasites has increased considerably during the last decade. Two 5<sup>th</sup> instar nymph-specific compounds, 4-oxo-hexenal and 4-oxo-octenal, were identified and synthesised.</p><p>Utilizing domestic dogs (<em>Canis lupus familiaris</em>) in the identification of bed bug infestations has become popular during recent years. Their training is usually conducted using live bed bugs, however this thesis describes an alternative method of teaching dogs to find infestations. This alternative method is based on synthetic compounds and dogs trained in this manner have achieved a high positive indication rate.</p><p>Two species of the tiny, <em>Acacia</em> leaf-eating insect pests in Australia known as thrips, <em>Kladothrips nicolsoni</em> and <em>K. rugosus,</em> have been investigated by means of larval extracts and have been shown to contain large amount of (<em>Z</em>)-3-dodecenoic acid which was synthesised and tested in bioassays.</p><p>Fruit flies are common pests on fruit in almost every private household. Even though fruit flies has been investigated extensively, their chemical communication has not been completely elucidated. (Z)-4-undecenal was identified as a compound emitted by females, it was synthesised in high stereoisomeric purity and evaluated in biological assays.</p>Tue, 9 Sep 2014 14:55:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22821Thomas ÖhlundMetal Films for Printed Electronics : Ink-substrate Interactions and Sintering http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23420 <p>A new manufacturing paradigm may lower the cost and environmental impact of existing products, as well as enable completely new products. Large scale, roll-to-roll manufacturing of flexible electronics and other functionality has great potential. However, a commercial breakthrough depends on a lower consumption of materials and energy compared with competing alternatives, and that sufficiently high performance and reliability of the products can be maintained. The substrate constitutes a large part of the product, and therefore its cost and environmental sustainability are important. Electrically conducting thin films are required in many functional devices and applications. In demanding applications, metal films offer the highest conductivity.</p><p> </p><p>In this thesis, paper substrates of various type and construction were characterized, and the characteristics were related to the performance of inkjet-printed metal patterns. Fast absorption of the ink carrier was beneficial for well-defined pattern geometry, as well as high conductivity. Surface roughness with topography variations of sufficiently large amplitude and frequency, was detrimental to the pattern definition and conductivity. Porosity was another important factor, where the characteristic pore size was much more important than the total pore volume. Apparent surface energy was important for non-absorbing substrates, but of limited importance for coatings with a high absorption rate. Applying thin polymer–based coatings on flexible non-porous films to provide a mechanism for ink solvent removal, improved the pattern definition significantly. Inkjet-printing of a ZnO-dispersion on uncoated paper provided a thin spot-coating, allowing conductivity of silver nanoparticle films. Conductive nanoparticle films could not form directly on the uncoated paper.</p><p> </p><p>The resulting performance of printed metal patterns was highly dependent on a well adapted sintering methodology. Several sintering methods were examined in this thesis, including conventional oven sintering, electrical sintering, microwave sintering, chemical sintering and intense pulsed light sintering. Specially designed coated papers with modified chemical and physical properties, were utilized for chemical low-temperature sintering of silver nanoparticle inks. For intense pulsed light sintering and material conversion of patterns, custom equipment was designed and built. Using the equipment, inkjet-printed copper oxide patterns were processed into highly conducting copper patterns. Custom-designed papers with mesoporous coatings and porous precoatings improved the reliablility and performance of the reduction and sintering process.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The thesis aims to clarify how ink-substrate interactions and sintering methodology affect the performance and reliability of inkjet-printed nanoparticle patterns on flexible substrates. This improves the selection, adaptation, design and manufacturing of suitable substrates for inkjet-printed high conductivity patterns, such as circuit boards or RFID antennas. </p>Fri, 14 Nov 2014 09:28:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23420Charlotte PerssonImplementing Community Based Re/habilitation in Uganda and Sweden : A Comparative Approach http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23746 <p>In our global world, ideas in general and social work models in particular are spread and implemented in a variety of socioeconomic, political and cultural contexts, generating different outcomes. Many ideas and services launched in different countries by international organisations or governments in order to bring social justice to marginalised and oppressed groups, such as people with disabilities, have been criticised for not reaching or involving those such services aim to serve. Low impact of social programs on the welfare of people and communities has put the effectiveness of such programs into question and can leave people with disabilities dissatisfied with the social services available in their environment.</p><p>The main purpose of this dissertation is to examine how an international idea for social work practice, as community based rehabilitation (CBR), is implemented in different structures and institutional contexts. To examine how an idea is implemented in different contexts, following research questions have guided the work: “How was the idea of CBR introduced to and implemented in Uganda and Sweden?”, “What contextual factors influenced the implementation of CBR in these countries?”, “What limitations and possibilities affected CBRs chances of continuity and institutionalisation in the two countries?” and finally“Can international ideas and models for social work be successfully used in different structural and institutional contexts?”.</p><p>The study is based on a qualitative design with a comparative approach using qualitative content analysis for analysing data collected through official documents and interviews with parents to children with disabilities and professionals working in the children’s surrounding. The results show how difficult it is to monitor development through projects in both non-Western and Western countries. International ideas of social work, such as CBR, can make a difference in both Uganda and Sweden for the improvement of the living condition of those in need of services; at least, as long as there are funding for the projects and cooperation between authorities, NGOs and the parents of children with disabilities.</p><p>The results show also that there are many differences in the process of the implementation of CBR in Uganda and Sweden. The colonial past of Uganda and its weak welfare state make CBR an important project for the improvement of the life conditions of children with disabilities. Meanwhile, the Swedish strong welfare state and legal protection of children with disabilities make CBR much more marginal in Sweden than in Uganda. However, CBRs successes to promote social justice for children with disabilities and their families makes it necessary to integrate the project to the existing organisation of the welfare state in the two countries. Changing existing welfare services requires engagement in political decision-makings, cooperation, and a critical examination of structural and institutional arrangements, in order to include successful projects in the daily functions and duties of the welfare state of every country. This will prevent an international idea for social work to not only be a temporary trend to follow, but also an established working method for helping people in need of proper services.</p>Mon, 15 Dec 2014 10:55:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23746Sofia EnbergStorage of Hydrogen Peroxide Bleached Mechanical Pulp : Reduction in Reflectance over the Visible Spectrum http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23806 <p>The objective of this thesis is to determine possible causes of the darkening of hydrogen peroxide bleached mechanical pulp over the visible spectrum and their relative contributions. It focuses on both process conditions and the composition of the pulp and the dilution water, including additions or losses of material along the process line from the bleach tower to the paper machine.</p><p>A mapping of the optical properties of the pulp along the process showed that the fine fraction of the pulp darkened more than the long fibre fraction. Simulation of retention times of different fractions showed that the main part of the fine material is retained in the paper within a few hours, a small part might circulate for considerably longer time and may therefore be strongly coloured.</p><p>Storage trials were mainly performed using a hydrogen peroxide bleached mechanical pulp intended for SC paper made of Norway spruce (<em>Picea abies</em>), sampled on one occasion and stored in a freezer. Unwashed or well-washed pulp was stored in distilled water or in different process waters. Some complementary trials were included, e.g. unbleached pulp.</p><p>Time and temperature were the process variables that gave the strongest darkening of the pulp, as expected, both in a clean and a more process-like system, whereas pH only had an effect in the presence of process waters; the highest brightness stability was seen at a pH around 5.5–6.0.</p><p>The darkening was due to an increase in the light absorption coefficient (<em>k</em>) beginning at short wavelengths, but after longer storage times the increase in <em>k</em><sub>λ</sub> also became noticeable at longer wavelengths. The colour (CIE <em>L*</em>, <em>a*</em>, <em>b*</em>) of the pulp changed towards red and yellow, initially more towards red and then more towards yellow. These changes were clearly visible.</p><p>Washing of the bleached pulp made it less sensitive to storage; possibly due to the removal of extractives, lignin-like substances, metals and pulp fines. This washing had little effect before storage and the amount of material removed was small.</p><p>The pulp darkened more when stored in process waters compared to distilled water. Apart from fibres, most of the colour was associated with pulp fines or filler but some colour was also found in the dissolved and colloidal fractions. At an increased pulp consistency, the increase in <em>k</em><sub>460</sub> was smaller.</p><p>Storage in white water from the paper machine gave extensive discolouration with a shoulder in the absorption spectrum around 550–650 nm, which increased with time. The addition of ferric ions increased the light absorption coefficient during storage, but could not explain the increased absorption at 550–650 nm nor could it be the only cause of the darkening in the mill system. A cationic basic violet dye gave a shoulder in the absorption spectrum similar to that of the mill system, but the absorption of the dye did not increase during storage. Model calculations indicate, but do not prove, that ferric ions together with violet and red dyes could have played a major, but not exclusive role in the colour observed in the mill system after storage. The darkening not accounted for, at longer wavelengths and around 550–650 nm, is suggested to be related to fines and fillers including dissolved and colloidal substances associated with these particles.</p><p>A method to produce representative sheets for determination of optical properties of mechanical pulps was developed. The new method makes it possible to follow changes in light absorption and light scattering coefficients over the visible range of wavelengths. It is approximately six times faster than standard methods, reduces the risk of additional darkening of the sample and can be used with small pulp quantities.</p><p>The deviation from the expected linear behaviour of the light scattering coefficient, <em>s</em>, at wavelengths corresponding to strong light absorption has been studied using the Kubelka-Munk model and the angular resolved <em>DORT2002</em> radiative transfer solution method. The decrease in <em>s</em> could not be explained by errors introduced in the Kubelka-Munk modelling by anisotropic scattering.</p>Tue, 16 Dec 2014 11:53:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23806Stefan ForsströmEnabling fully distributed global services on the Internet-of Things http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-24027 Fri, 2 Jan 2015 12:38:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-24027Amelie Fagerlund-EdfeldtNaturally occurring phenols with antioxidant, antifungal and anti-browsing activity http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-24028 Fri, 2 Jan 2015 12:45:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-24028Madeleine BlusiE-health and information- and communication technology (ICT) as support systems for older family caregivers in rural areas http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23281 <p>The overall objective of the thesis was to investigate how older family caregivers in rural areas experienced participation in an e-health based caregiver support system. Participants were 95 caregivers allocated to intervention group (n=63) and control group (n=32). The thesis had a mixed method design and is based on four original articles (I-IV). Data was collected through web-camera interviews (I-III), telephone interviews (II,IV) and questionnaires (II,IV) after 1.5 years of using e-health support. Quantitative data was analyzed using comparative statistics, multiple linear regression and logistic regression. Qualitative data was analyzed with content analysis. <strong>Article I </strong>showed that the caregivers, despite lacking experience from using computers, were able to adopt the new technology, with help from support nurses and family. Caregivers felt e-health helped them to regain social inclusion. <strong>Article II </strong>had a comparative design, comparing e-health support with conventional caregiver support. Caregivers using e-health were more satisfied with their support and found it to be available, flexible and helping them enhance caregiver competence. Control group caregivers were less satisfied with support and experienced unmet needs. <strong>Article III </strong>showed that e-health can reduce caregivers’ feelings of isolation. Two themes were created, <em>Expanding the concept of place </em>and <em>Developing networks</em>. <strong>Article IV </strong>revealed that caregivers used e-health frequently, experienced benefits from using it and had become more independent. Support nurses were disappointed about the decrease in contact with caregivers, and also acknowledged a need for developing the professional nursing role while working with e-health. Conclusions drawn from the findings were that participants experienced benefits from e-health support and it helped them become more independent. Swedish municipalities are obliged to provide caregiver support, the findings from the study are valid to conclude that e-health support are as good as, or even more effective, than conventional support for older family caregivers in rural areas.</p>Fri, 24 Oct 2014 14:31:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23281Lena JunehagPeer mentoring - A complementary support to persons after an acute myocardial infarction http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23277 <p>The overall aim of the thesis was to investigate the experience of having an acute myocardial infarction in newly afflicted persons living in sparsely populated counties, and whether an intervention with peer mentors would provide support by affecting the perception of illness, health related quality of life and everyday life. The aim was also to describe the support of peer mentors from their perspective and what the mentoring meant to them. The thesis was based on four empirical studies (<strong>I-IV</strong>) and had a prospective, longitudinal, quasi-experimental, comparative design. A suitable sample was recruited, comprising 72 individuals who were newly afflicted with an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) for the first time; 34 of them were offered contact with a peer mentor, while 38 were not. Furthermore, 34 peer mentors participated in the project. The results were based on data collected from 28 individuals with mentors, 33 individuals without and 22 peer mentors. In studies <strong>I</strong> and <strong>III, </strong>qualitative approaches were used based on individual interviews with 20 newly afflicted individuals with (n=11) and without (n=9) mentors one year after AMI. The aims were to describe individuals’ perceptions of the psychosocial consequences of an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and of their access to support one year after the event (<strong>I</strong>) and to describe individual perceptions of their lifestyle and support, 1 year after an AMI with or without mentorship (<strong>III</strong>). Study <strong>II </strong>was quantitative, consisting of data from questionnaires IPQ-R and SF-36 answered by 61 newly afflicted individuals with (n=28) and without (n=33) mentors. It aimed to investigate whether changes in illness perception and health-related quality of life occur over time after an intervention with peer mentors 1, 6 and 12 months after an AMI. Study <strong>IV</strong> had a mixed design and included peer mentors with the purpose to describing the personal meaning of being a peer mentor, for a person recovering from an acute myocardial infarction. Data consisted of individual interviews (n=15) and some data from IPQ-R and SF-36 that were provided on two occasions (n=22). All of the interviews (<strong>I, III, IV</strong>) were digitally recorded and analysed by qualitative content analysis, while the quantitative studies included descriptive data and were further compared using analysis of variance (ANOVA) (<strong>II</strong>) and the paired-sample <em>t</em>-test (<strong>IV</strong>).</p><p> </p><p>The results from all four studies are interpreted and presented together, and they show differences and similarities between the newly afflicted with or without peer mentors and the peer mentors. The results comprise six main areas; <em>the meaning of becoming a person with an AMI</em> (<strong>I, II, III</strong>) pointed toward an awareness of the situation expressed both in positive and negative terms, as being thankful or of being afraid of having a second AMI. <em>View at health care</em> (<strong>I</strong>) indicated that follow-up after discharge was sometimes a positive experience but more often resulted in dissatisfaction with this part of the health-care system.<em> Consequences</em> (<strong>II</strong>) showed significant effects between groups in the dimensions ‘consequences’ and ‘timeline acute/chronic’ (IPQ-R), with higher mean values for those without mentors and a significant effect of time in both dimensions. There were also physical consequences for many of the participants <strong>(I, II, III, IV</strong>) as well as psychological consequences (<strong>I, II, IV</strong>). <em>Everyday life</em> (<strong>I, III</strong>) was affected by AMI that sometimes limited activities. There were demands to change areas of life-style that were perceived as both positive and negative. <em>Health</em> (<strong>II, III, IV</strong>) showed that health increased for most individuals during the year, as confirmed by significant values for time for those newly afflicted. The peer mentors showed a decrease in mean values but expressed that they felt healthier after compared with before their commitment. <em>Meaning of support</em> (<strong>I, IV</strong>) indicated that families and relatives had an important, supportive role for newly afflicted participants. The mentorship showed that the relationship was, in some cases and for different reasons, unsuccessful. However, most of them were satisfied, and new friendships arose. More of the mentors felt pride and were thankful because their experience was shown to be valuable to others in addition to themselves.</p><p> The results were synthesised using the Human Becoming nursing theory, which confirmed that recovery after an AMI is a process that occurs over time in which that those afflicted must accept and be comfortable being a person who is afflicted by an AMI. Some tendencies indicated an advantage for the newly afflicted participants who had received contact with a peer mentor. Conclusion: Because the mentor had experienced the same event, the relationship contributed to the security of the mentee. The peer mentors matured with the task because they felt that their experience was valuable and they felt unique.</p>Thu, 23 Oct 2014 16:15:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23277Marie CronskärOn customization of orthopedic implants - from design and additive manufacturing to implementation http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22902 <p>This doctoral thesis is devoted to studying the possibilities of using additive manufacturing (AM) and design based on computed tomography (CT), for the production of patient-specific implants within orthopedic surgery, initially in a broad perspective and, in the second part of the thesis focusing on customized clavicle osteosynthesis plates. The main AM method used in the studies is the Electron Beam Melting (EBM) technology. Using AM, the parts are built up directly from 3D computer models, by melting or in other ways joining thin layers of material, layer by layer, to build up the part. Over the last 20 years, this fundamentally new way of manufacturing and the rapid development of software for digital 3D reconstruction of anatomical models from medical imaging, have opened up entirely new opportunities for the design and manufacturing of patient-specific implants. Based on the information in a computed tomography (CT) scan, both digital and physical models of the anatomy can be created and of implants that are customized based on the anatomical models.</p><p> </p><p>The main method used is a number of case studies performed, focusing on different parts of the production chain, from CT-scan to final implant, and with several aims: learning about the details of the different steps in the procedure, finding suitable applications, developing the method and trying it out. The first study was on customized hip stems, focusing on the EBM method and its special preconditions and possibilities. It was followed by a study of bone plates, designed to follow the patient-specific bone contour, in this case a tibia fracture including the whole production chain. Further, four cases of patient-specific plates for clavicle fracture fixation were performed in order to develop and evaluate the method. The plates fit towards the patient’s bone were tested in cooperation with an orthopedic surgeon at Östersund hospital. In parallel with the case studies, a method for finite element (FE) analysis of fixation plates placed on a clavicle bone was developed and used for the comparative strength analysis of different plates and plating methods. The loading on the clavicle bone in the FE model was defined on a muscle and ligament level using multibody musculoskeletal simulation for more realistic loading than in earlier similar studies. </p><p> </p><p>The initial studies (<em>papers I and II</em>) showed that the EBM method has great potential, both for the application of customized hip stems and bone plates; in certain conditions EBM manufacturing can contribute to significant cost reductions compared to conventional manufacturing methods due to material savings and savings in file preparation time. However, further work was needed in both of the application areas before implementation. The studies on the fracture fixation using patient-specific clavicle plates indicated that the method can facilitate the work for the surgeon both in the planning and in the operating room, with the potential of a smoother plate with a better fit and screw positioning tailored to the specific fracture (<em>paper VI</em>). However, a large clinical trial is required to investigate the clinical benefit of using patient-specific plates. The FE simulations showed similar stress distributions and displacements in the patient-specific plates and the commercial plates (<em>papers III to VI</em>).</p><p> </p><p>To summarize: the results of this thesis contribute to the area of digital design and AM in patient-specific implants with broad basis of knowledge regarding the technologies used and areas in which further work is needed for the implementation of the technology on a larger scale. Further, a method has been developed and initially evaluated for implementation in the area of clavicle fracture fixation, including an approach for comparing the strength of different clavicle plates.</p>Mon, 15 Sep 2014 08:24:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22902Jie HeGasification-based Biorefinery for Mechanical Pulp Mills http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22985 <p>The modern concept of “biorefinery” is dominantly based on chemical pulp mills to create more value than cellulose pulp fibres, and energy from the dissolved lignins and hemicelluloses. This concept is characterized by the conversion of biomass into various bio-based products. It includes thermochemical processes such as gasification and fast pyrolysis. In thermo-mechanical pulp (TMP) mills, the feedstock available to the gasification-based biorefinery is significant, including logging residues, bark, fibre material rejects, bio-sludges and other available fuels such as peat, recycled wood and paper products. On the other hand, mechanical pulping processes consume a great amount of electricity, which may account for up to 40% of the total pulp production cost. The huge amount of purchased electricity can be compensated for by self-production of electricity from gasification, or the involved cost can be compensated for by extra revenue from bio-transport fuel production. This work is to study co-production of bio-automotive fuels, bio-power, and steam via gasification of the waste biomass streams in the context of the mechanical pulp industry. Ethanol and substitute natural gas (SNG) are chosen to be the bio-transport fuels in the study. The production processes of biomass-to-ethanol, SNG, together with heat and power, are simulated with Aspen Plus. Based on the model, the techno-economic analysis is made to evaluate the profitability of bio-transport fuel production when the process is integrated into a TMP mill.The mathematical modelling starts from biomass gasification. Dual fluidized bed gasifier (DFBG) is chosen for syngas production. From the model, the yield and composition of the syngas and the contents of tar and char can be calculated. The model has been evaluated against the experimental results measured on a 150</p><p>KWth Mid Sweden University (MIUN) DFBG. As a reasonable result, the tar content in the syngas decreases with the gasification temperature and the steam to biomass (S/B) ratio. The biomass moisture content is a key parameter for a DFBG to be operated and maintained at a high gasification temperature. The model suggests that it is difficult to keep the gasification temperature above 850 ℃ when the biomass moisture content is higher than 15.0 wt.%. Thus, a certain amount of biomass or product gas needs to be added in the combustor to provide sufficient heat for biomass devolatilization and steam reforming.For ethanol production, a stand-alone thermo-chemical process is designed and simulated. The techno-economic assessment is made in terms of ethanol yield, synthesis selectivity, carbon and CO conversion efficiencies, and ethanol production cost. The calculated results show that major contributions to the production cost are from biomass feedstock and syngas cleaning. A biomass-to-ethanol plant should be built over 200 MW.In TMP mills, wood and biomass residues are commonly utilized for electricity and steam production through an associated CHP plant. This CHP plant is here designed to be replaced by a biomass-integrated gasification combined cycle (BIGCC) plant or a biomass-to-SNG (BtSNG) plant including an associated heat & power centre. Implementing BIGCC/BtSNG in a mechanical pulp production line might improve the profitability of a TMP mill and also help to commercialize the BIGCC/BtSNG technologies by taking into account of some key issues such as, biomass availability, heat utilization etc.. In this work, the mathematical models of TMP+BIGCC and TMP+BtSNG are respectively built up to study three cases: 1) scaling of the TMP+BtSNG mill (or adding more forest biomass logging residues in the gasifier for TMP+BIGCC); 2) adding the reject fibres in the gasifier; 3) decreasing the TMP SEC by up to 50%.The profitability from the TMP+BtSNG mill is analyzed in comparison with the TMP+BIGCC mill. As a major conclusion, the scale of the TMP+BIGCC/BtSNG mill, the prices of electricity and SNG are three strong factors for the implementation of BIGCC/BtSNG in a TMP mill. A BtSNG plant associated to a TMP mill should be built in a scale above 100 MW in biomass thermal input. Comparing to the case of TMP+BIGCC, the NR and IRR of TMP+BtSNG are much lower. Political instruments to support commercialization of bio-transport fuel are necessary.</p><p> </p>Tue, 16 Sep 2014 16:22:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22985Kristina GöranssonInternal Tar/CH4 Reforming in Biomass Dual Fluidised Bed Gasifiers towards Fuel Synthesis http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22984 <p>Production of high-quality syngas from biomass gasification in a dual fluidised bed gasifier (DFBG) has made a significant progress in R&D and Technology demonstration. An S&M scale bio-automotive fuel plant close to the feedstock resources is preferable as biomass feedstock is widely sparse and has relatively low density, low heating value and high moisture content. This requires simple, reliable and cost-effective production of clean and good syngas. Indirect DFBGs, with steam as the gasification agent, produce a syngas of high content H<sub>2</sub> and CO with 12-20 MJ/m<sub>n</sub><sup>3</sup> heating value. The Mid Sweden University (MIUN) gasifier, built for research on synthetic fuel production, is a dual fluidised bed gasifier. Reforming of tars and CH<sub>4</sub> (except for methanation application) in the syngas is a major challenge for commercialization of biomass fluidised-bed gasification technology towards automotive fuel production. A good syngas from DFBGs can be obtained by optimised design and operation of the gasifier, by the use of active catalytic bed material and internal reforming. This thesis presents a series of experimental tests with different operation parameters, reforming of tar and CH<sub>4</sub> with catalytic bed material and reforming of tar and CH<sub>4 </sub>with catalytic internal reformer.</p><p> </p><p>The first test was carried out to evaluate the optimal operation and performance of the MIUN gasifier. The test provides basic information for temperature control in the combustor and the gasifier by the bed material circulation rate.</p><p> </p><p> After proven operation and performance of the MIUN gasifier, an experimental study on in-bed material catalytic reforming of tar/CH<sub>4</sub> is performed to evaluate the catalytic effects of the olivine and Fe-impregnated olivine (10%wtFe/olivine Catalyst) bed materials, with reference to non-catalytic silica sand operated in the mode of dual fluidised beds (DFB). A comparative experimental test is then carried out with the same operation condition and bed-materials but when the gasifier was operated in the mode of single bubbling fluidised bed (BFB). The behaviour of catalytic and non-catalytic bed materials differs when they are used in the DFB and the BFB. Fe/olivine and olivine in the BFB mode give lower tar and CH<sub>4</sub> content together with higher H<sub>2</sub>+CO concentration, and higher H<sub>2</sub>/CO ratio, compared to DFB mode. It is hard to show a clear advantage of Fe/olivine over olivine regarding tar/CH<sub>4</sub> catalytic reforming. </p><p> </p><p>In order to significantly reduce the tar/CH<sub>4</sub> contents, an internal reformer, referred to as the <em>FreeRef</em> reformer, is developed for in-situ catalytic reforming of tar and CH<sub>4</sub> using Ni-catalyst in an environment of good gas-solids contact at high temperature. A study on the internal reformer filled with and without Ni-catalytic pellets was carried out by evaluation of the syngas composition and tar/CH<sub>4</sub> content. It can be concluded that the reformer with Ni-catalytic pellets clearly gives a higher H<sub>2</sub> content together with lower CH<sub>4</sub> and tar contents in the syngas than the reformer without Ni-catalytic pellets. The gravimetric tar content decreases from 25 g/m<sup>3</sup> down to 5 g/m<sup>3</sup> and the CH<sub>4</sub> content from 11% down below 6% in the syngas.</p><p> </p><p>The MIUN gasifier has a unique design suitable for in-bed tar/CH<sub>4</sub> catalytic reforming and continuously internal regeneration of the reactive bed material. The novel design in the MIUN gasifier increases the gasification efficiency, suppresses the tar generation and upgrades the syngas composition. </p><p> </p>Mon, 15 Sep 2014 13:33:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-22984Maria RasmussonDet digitala läsandet : Begrepp, processer och resultat http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23667 <p>The aim of this doctoral dissertation project has been to investigate and describe the reading comprehension of digital texts related to the reading of traditional texts by gender differences, computer-game playing, and socioeconomic background factors. The dissertation is based on four studies. In the first study, the results from a reading comprehension test delivered on screen is compared to a test delivered on paper and administered to 235 Swedish students 14-15 years of age. The students managed the test in the paper mode slightly better than that in the screen mode. The difference was particularly evident for boys. The second study used Swedish data from the PISA 2009 survey in an analysis conducted with a structural equation modelling technique. A digital reading factor nested within the overall reading was identified. A gender difference in favour of boys was found in this factor. This difference was perfectly mediated by the larger amount of time that the boys spent on computer-game playing. The third study, conducted on Swedish and Norwegian PISA data from 2009, focussed on equity aspects in reading comprehension and indicated that the unique aspects of digital reading were not influenced by cultural capital, neither on the student nor on the school level, in contrast to what was the case for traditional reading comprehension. The fourth study, using qualitative data, aimed at exploring the abilities and skills important for digital reading. The analysis resulted in five categories: traditional literacy, multimodal literacy, pathfinding, IT abilities, and information abilities. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach, the overall conclusion drawn from the results of the four studies was that reading comprehension of digital texts has unique aspects in addition to those required for reading comprehension of traditional texts. Three other important conclusions were pointed out as well. The first was that reading comprehension is influenced by the context of the texts; the second was that particular skills and abilities are required for digital reading; and the third was that there seems to be less of an influence of background factors on the performance of digital reading compared to traditional reading among Swedish (and Norwegian) youth. The results are discussed in relation to a Dual Level Theory formulated by Leu et al., as well as the validity issues with an outset in Bachman’s conversation analysis. The implications for schooling have been considered.</p>Wed, 10 Dec 2014 10:58:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23667Samson AfewerkiDevelopment of catalytic enantioselective C-C bond-forming and cascade transformations by merging homogeneous or heterogeneous transition metal catalysis with asymmetric aminocatalysis http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23605 <p>Chiral molecules play a central role in our daily life and in nature, for instance the different enantiomers or diastereomers of a chiral molecule may show completely different biological activity. For this reason, it is a vital goal for synthetic chemists to design selective and efficient methodologies that allow the synthesis of the desired enantiomer. In this context, it is highly important that the concept of green chemistry is considered while designing new approaches that eventually will provide more environmental and sustainable chemical synthesis.The aim of this thesis is to develop the concept of combining transition metal catalysis and aminocatalysis in one process (dual catalysis). This strategy would give access to powerful tools to promote reactions that were not successful with either transition metal catalyst or the organocatalyst alone. The protocols presented in this thesis based on organocatalytic transformations via enamine or iminium intermediates or both, in combination with transition metal catalysis, describes new enantioselective organocatalytic procedures that afford valuable compounds with high chemo- and enantioselectivity from inexpensive commercial available starting materials. In paper I, we present a successful example of dual catalysis: the combination of transition metal activation of an electrophile and aminocatalyst activation of a nucleophile via enamine intermediate. In paper II, the opposite scenario is presented, here the transition metal activates the nucleophile and the aminocatalyst activates the electrophile via an iminium intermediate. In paper III,we present a domino Michael/carbocyclisation reaction that is catalysed by a chiral amine (via iminium/enamine activation) in combination with a transition metal catalysts activation of an electrophile. In paper IV, the concept of dual catalysis was further extended and applied for the highly enantioselective synthesis of valuable structural scaffolds, namely poly-substituted spirocyclic oxindoles. Finally, in paper V the concept of dual catalysis was expanded, by investigating more challenging and environmentally benign processes, such as the successful combination of a heterogeneous palladium and amine catalysts for the highly enantioselective synthesis of functionalised cyclopentenes, containing an all carbonquaternary stereocenter, dihydrofurans and dihydropyrrolidines.</p>Fri, 5 Dec 2014 12:48:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-23605Abdul Waheed MalikReal-Time Optical Position Sensing on FPGA http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-24035 Thu, 8 Jan 2015 09:45:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-24035John HögströmQuality of Democracy Around the Globe : A Comparative Study http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-17683 <p>This study deals with the quality of democracy, and its purpose is to examine which factors affect the varying levels of the quality of democracy in the stable democracies in the world. The research question posited in the study is: what explains the varying levels of the quality of democracy in the democratic countries in the world, and do political institutions matter? Theoretically, the quality of democracy is distinguished from other similar concepts employed in comparative politics, and what the quality of democracy stands for is clarified. The quality of democracy is defined in this study as: the level of legitimacy in a democratic system with respect to democratic norms such as political participation, political competition, political equality, and rule of law. In total, four dimensions of the quality of democracy are included that are considered to be very important dimensions of the quality of democracy. These dimensions are political participation, political competition, political equality, and the rule of law. To explain the variation in the quality of democracy, an explanatory model has been developed. The explanatory model consists of five different groups of independent variables: political institutional variables, socioeconomic variables, cultural variables, historical variables, and physical variables. Methodologically, a large-n, outcome-centric research design is employed and statistical analysis is used to examine what effect the five groups of independent variables have on the four dimensions of the quality of democracy. Empirically, the results show that cultural variables and political institutional variables outperform socioeconomic, historical, and physical variables in relation to their effect on the quality of democracy. Consequently, cultural and political institutional variables are the two most important groups of variables when explaining the variation in the quality of democracy in the democratic countries in the world. In relation to the other groups of variables, historical variables are slightly more important than socioeconomic variables when explaining the variation in the quality of democracy. The physical variables constitute the group of variables that has the least importance out of the five groups of variables when explaining the variation in the quality of democracy. In summary, the findings from the study show that the best way of increasing the level of the quality of democracy may be to choose political institutions such as parliamentarism as the executive power system and a proportional system as the electoral system. To put this clearly, to increase the possibility of democratic countries achieving a high level of the quality of democracy they should avoid majority electoral systems and presidential or semipresidential executive systems.</p>Wed, 12 Dec 2012 12:58:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-17683Pernilla IngelssonCreating a Quality Management Culture : Focusing on Values and Leadership http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18315 <p>When applied successfully, the QM initiatives TQM and Lean enhance an organization´s ability to meet and exceed the expectations of the customers as well as co-workers and other stakeholders. There are however also QM initiatives that fail and one reason for this is the organization’s inability to create a supportive culture, a culture that rests on a number of values which aim at improving the quality and thereby customer satisfaction. Even though this is known by both practitioners and researchers, little has been written on how to achieve a QM culture in practice and there are not many methodologies and tools designed directly with purpose of creating this culture. In addition, the measurements used for monitoring organizational success focus mainly on ‘hard’ process or financial measures such as lead-time reduction and operating income. </p><p>The purpose of this thesis has been to ‘examine how a strong organizational culture can be created and to contribute with knowledge about how to create and measure a QM culture’. To fulfill this purpose, a number of case studies have been carried out and a questionnaire has been developed in order to measure the presence and importance of a number of QM values.</p><p>The research presented in this thesis reinforces the fact that culture is an important factor to take into account when applying QM initiatives. A structured way of working with culture and the development of a strategy on how the culture in the organization will be changed is needed. This in combination with methodologies and tools aiming directly at enhancing a QM culture. The research also shows that the relationship between organizational culture, values and behaviors needs to be considered when working to create a strong QM culture. Most of the methodologies and tools found in the case studies aim directly at reinforcing the ‘right’ behaviors in the organization, hence enhancing the underlying values. For instance, the way an organization works with selection, e.g. recruitment and promotion, based on behaviors rather than documented merits is one methodology found in the research. The leadership was found to be important when it came to building or strengthening the culture. Managers are considered key players and need to act as role models, displaying the desired behaviors themselves. The managers need to be present among their co-workers and aware of how their own actions affect the possibility to build a strong QM culture.</p><p>Another conclusion drawn is the need to measure the ‘softer’ side of QM. One starting point when applying a QM initiative should be the assessment of the existing culture in the organization as a complement to the ‘harder’ measures. The research presented in this thesis suggests that the questionnaire that has been developed could be an appropriate tool for this purpose. If the existing culture in an organization does not support the values within QM, the behaviors of managers and co-workers that are needed to improve quality and thereby customer satisfaction could be hard to achieve.</p>Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:44:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18315Kerstin Björkman RandströmHemmet som arena för äldres rehabilitering http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19209 <p>Avhandlingens övergripande syfte var att studera multidisciplinära teams, äldre personers och familjemedlemmars erfarenheter av hemrehabilitering. Avhandlingen baseras på fyra studier (I-IV). Alla studierna har en kvalitativa beskrivande design. Datamaterialet utgjordes av fokusgruppsintervjuer med personal arbetande i team i kommunal hälso- och sjukvård (I), intervjuer med äldre personer, över 65 år, som vårdats på sjukhuset och därefter fortsatt rehabilitering i hemmet (II,III,IV), samt familjemedlemmar involverade i de äldres rehabilitering (II).</p><p>Studie I visade på betydelsen av att möta äldres individuella behov och att arbeta utifrån ett rehabiliterande förhållningssätt i avsikt att ge en hjälp som inte innebär att ta över handlingar från den äldre. Väsentligt var att i teamet reflektera över hur man agerar utifrån den egna professionen för att kunna utveckla ett rehabiliterande förhållningssätt i det dagliga arbetet. I resultatet framkom att teamen uppfattade hemrehabilitering som positiv för de äldre, men mindre lämpligt om de äldre var svårt sjuka och de kände sig otrygga i sitt hem. Respekt för de äldres integritet i deras hem och att göra de närstående delaktiga i rehabiliteringen betonades. Resultatet visade på att för att kunna utveckla samarbetet i teamet finns behov av att diskutera varje professions ansvarsområde och klargöra gränser mellan varandras ansvarområden. Behovet av att tillföra psykosocial kompetens i teamet framhölls för att möta de äldres behov. I studie II framkom att de äldre upplevde rehabiliteringen vara en balansgång i att känna av vad kroppen orkar med för dagen och vad som är realistiskt att uppnå för att känna välbefinnande. Tryggheten i att ha någon i familjen nära sig i hemmet var oumbärligt för att våga utföra träning och vardagliga aktiviteter. Resultatet visar på de äldres upplevelse av otillfredsställelse med att vara beroende av andra. Familjemedlemmar var engagerade i de äldres rehabilitering genom att finnas till hands, hjälpa till och vara stödjande, vilket var en självklar handling men också utmanande i att kunna hjälpa på rätt sätt. Bristande information om hjälpmedels funktion och användning skapade frustration. Resultatet visar att både de äldre och deras familjemedlemmar ser hemmiljön bidra till att underlätta rehabilitering. Det som försvårar är när gränsen för det egna hemmet inskränkts i och med att och personal ofta gick "in och ut" i det egna hemmet.</p><p>Studie III visar på ett flertal faktorer i de äldres vardag och i det omgivande samhället som inverkat underlättande eller hindrande på aktiviteter och delaktighet vid hemrehabilitering. Resultatet beskrivs utifrån Klassifikation av funktionstillstånd, funktionshinder och hälsa (ICF) i 19 kategorier i domänen omgivningsfaktorer. Som underlättande faktorer framträder bl.a. tillgång till hjälpmedel, en fysisk miljö tillgänglig för aktiviteter samt att få stöd från närstående, vänner och personal i hälso- och sjukvård och omsorg. I resultatet framkom betydelsen av ett empatiskt förhållningssätt när personal möter den äldre personen i dennes hem. Resultatet indikerar att hemrehabilitering inte till fullo tillgodoser äldres behov av rehabilitering. I studie IV framkommer personliga faktorer som inre styrka, motivation, engagemang och tålamod för att nå positiva resultat i en rehabilitering som sträcker sig över flera år. Rehabilitering beskrivs i fysiska och psykiska faser som övergick i att hantera en fysisk funktionsnedsättning med svårigheter att gå i dagligt liv. Resultatet visar på betydelsen av adekvat information, vikten av socialt stöd och tillgänglighet till hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal under rehabiliteringsprocessen.</p><p>Avhandlingen bidrar till en ökad kunskap om hur multidisciplinära team, äldre personer och familjemedlemmar upplever rehabilitering i hemmiljö. Nyttan med avhandlingen kan medföra att hemrehabilitering som vårdform kan bli föremål för diskussioner om hur det utformas och organiseras för att på bästa sätt stödja de äldre och närstående med utgångspunkt från de äldres och närståendes erfarenheter och upplevelser. Detta kan ses gagna deltagarna på individnivå men även för utveckling inom yrkesprofessionen. Avhandlingen har även visat på möjligheten att implementera ICF i rehabiliterande omvårdnad.</p>Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:34:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19209Rose Mari OlsenInformasjonsutveksling mellom sykepleiere i hjemmesykepleie og sykehus ved overføring av eldre pasienter http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19241 <p>Darlig samhandling og informasjonsutveksling mellom ulike niva i helsetjenesten har i de senere ar vart gjenstand for bekymring verden over. I Norge ble det gjennom samhandlingsreformen for alvor satt fokus pa behovet for styrking av samarbeidet mellom spesialist‐ og primarhelsetjenesten. Malet med denne avhandlingen var a utvikle kunnskap om sykepleieres informasjonsutveksling knyttet til overforing av eldre pasienter mellom medisinsk sengepost og hjemmesykepleie.</p><p>Avhandlingen bestar av fire delstudier. I delstudie I ble det gjennomfort fokusgruppeintervju med sykepleiere ved sykehus og hjemmesykepleie i den hensikt a beskrive deres opplevelse av barrierer som pavirker informasjonsutvekslingen. I delstudie II og III ble det gjort en granskning av pasientjournaldata for eldre pasienter innlagt ved medisinsk sengepost. Pasientene var mottakere av hjemmesykepleie for og etter sykehusinnleggelsen. Hensikten med delstudie II var a undersoke forekomst av sykepleierapporter sendt ved overforing, og a identifisere sammenhengen mellom forekomst av sykepleierapporter og</p><p>karakteristika ved pasient og pasientforlop. For delstudie III var hensikten a undersoke innholdet i sykepleierapporter som sendes fra sykehus til hjemmesykepleie ved utskriving, og a identifisere sammenhengen mellom innholdet i sykepleierapportene og karakteristika ved pasient og pasientforlop. Delstudie IV ble gjennomfort som en casestudie knyttet til overforing av ni eldre pasienter. Ved hjelp av observasjon, intervju samt granskning av sykepleiedokumentasjon var hensikten a identifisere og beskrive innholdet i skriftlig og muntlig informasjon som utveksles mellom sykepleiere i hjemmesykepleie og sykehus i forbindelse med eldre hjemmeboende pasienters sykehusinnleggelse, og a identifisere nar og hvordan denne informasjonen utveksles.</p><p>I delstudie I ble det funnet en rekke barrierer som pavirker sykepleiernes informasjonsutveksling negativt og kan bidra til at eldre pasienter settes i en sarbar og utsatt situasjon. Barrierene kan beskrives ut fra tre hovedtema med tilhorende undertema. Barrierer assosiert med sykepleier: "mangel pa motivasjon", "mangel pa kontroll", og "mangel pa kunnskap". Barrierer assosiert med mellommenneskelige prosesser: "liten tilgjengelighet", "ulike syn" og "mangel pa tillit". Barrierer assosiert med organisasjonen: "mangel pa ressurser", "uklare ansvarsforhold", "manglende kontinuitet i personalet" og "uhensiktsmessige rutiner og retningslinjer".</p><p>Resultater fra delstudie II viste at forekomst av sykepleierapport var 1 % (N= 102) ved innleggelse og 69 % ved utskriving. Forekomst av utskrivingsrapport var assosiert med alder, kjonn, type medisinsk avdeling, samt lengde pa sykehusoppholdet. Delstudie III viste at informasjon relatert til fysisk helse forekom hyppigere enn informasjon relatert til psykisk helse. Utskrivingsrapportene (N=70) var strukturert i henhold til VIPS‐modellen. Forekomsten av psykisk relaterte VIPS‐sokeord var signifikant hoyere for kvinnelige enn for mannlige pasienter, for pasienter i den eldste aldersgruppen enn for pasienter i den yngste aldersgruppen, og for pasienter innlagt ved geriatrisk enhet enn for pasienter innlagt ved generell medisinsk avdeling. Forekomsten av fysisk relaterte sokeord var signifikant hoyere for pasienter innlagt ved generell medisinsk avdeling enn for pasienter innlagt ved geriatrisk enhet. Mens kjonn og type medisinsk avdeling var signifikante prediktorer for psykisk relaterte sokeord i sykepleierapportene, var type medisinsk avdeling en signifikant prediktor for fysisk relaterte sokeord.</p><p>Resultater fra delstudie IV viste at utveksling av informasjon mellom sykepleierne i hjemmesykepleien og sykehuset i all hovedsak skjer i forbindelse med utskriving. Det ble ikke gitt informasjon fra hjemmesykepleien til sykehuset ved innleggelse for noen av casene. Informasjon i forhold til fysiske forhold dominerte bade den skriftlige og muntlige kommunikasjonen. Opplysninger om pasientens subjektive opplevelse var sjelden gitt, og forekom bare i den muntlige kommunikasjonen. Det ble funnet forskjeller i den muntlige og den skriftlige informasjonen relatert til psykososiale forhold og sammensatt status. Mal, sykepleietiltak og eventuell effekt ble sjelden rapportert.</p><p>Avhandlingen viser at informasjonsutvekslingen mellom sykepleiere i hjemmesykepleie og sykehus ved overforing av eldre pasienter er mangelfull bade nar det gjelder forekomst og innhold. Nar det ikke utveksles adekvat informasjon om pasientens helsestatus ved overforing, blir det vanskelig for sykepleier pa neste niva a yte hensiktsmessig omsorg rettet mot pasientens spesifikke behov. Studien avdekket mange barrierer for informasjonsutveksling, og beskrivelsen av disse vil kunne hjelpe bade sykepleiere i praksis og deres ledere til a vare mer oppmerksomme pa de forutsetninger som trengs for a oppna en tilfredsstillende informasjonsutveksling og styrking av kontinuiteten.</p>Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:35:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19241Jessika SvenssonGambling and gender : A public health perspective http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19046 <p>Prevalence studies around the world show that men are the largest group at risk of becoming problem gamblers and that men gamble more than women. However, gambling research has long been gender blind. The gambling market is rapidly changing, with the Internet making gambling more accessible. Further, despite the well-documented presence of health, social and financial problems among the concerned significant others (CSOs) of someone close with gambling problems in clinical and help-seeking samples, there is little research investigating on this population. This thesis aims to examine the relation between gender and problem gambling among regular gamblers and CSOs, and to determine whether there was a convergence of men’s and women’s gambling behavior between 1997/98 and 2009/10 in Sweden. A further aim is to examine health problems associated with Internet gambling and CSOs.</p><p>The data collections were taken from three different but linked gambling and health representative national population based studies in Sweden, all using the same methods: telephone interviews supplemented by questionnaires. The studies are as follows: 1) prevalence study 1997/98, age 15-74 years, n = 10,000, response rate 72% (n = 7,139) 2) prevalence study 2008/09, age 16-84 years, n = 15,000, response rate 63% (n = 8,165); and 3) incident study 2009/10, the 8,165 participants from the 2008/09 prevalence study were contacted again, response rate 74% (n = 6,021).</p><p>Gambling was generally merged into domains based on the axis chance-strategy and public-domestic. The dichotomy of public and private spheres is relevant in since there is a link between the public sphere and notions of masculinity and a link between the private and femininity. Further, the literature suggests that men are attracted to gambling that involves features of strategy, whereas women generally prefer game of chance. Problem gambling was measured using SOGS-R and PGSI. Health variables included measures such as self-reported health, psychological stress, social support, alcohol consumption, and financial situation as a determinant of health.</p><p>There were very few indications of a convergence between men’s and women’s gambling behavior. Men and women generally gambled in different domains. Men gambled more than women and dominated all domains except the domain of chance-domestic, a domain associated with less risk and Internet gambling. However, men and women who gambled regularly were just as likely to be problem gamblers. No gender differences were found in the score from separate PGSI analyses in the chance-public domain (games of chance in public spaces, such as gambling machines and bingo in halls). This domain was also the only domain associated with problem gambling for women who gambled regularly. Men and women were just as likely to report that they were CSOs and they constituted a large proportion of the Swedish population (18%). CSOs experienced a range of social, economic and health related problems including psychological stress, risky alcohol consumption, exposure to violence, and separations. For women who were CSOs, no relation with own problem gambling was found.</p><p>This thesis suggests that the presence of gambling machines must be addressed to prevent problem gambling and that separate analyses for men and women are required to identify important differences between genders. The findings indicate that gambling domains produce and reinforce gender. Further, to be able to prevent problem gambling we require further knowledge about these gendered processes. However, it is also important to see the overall similarities between men and women to avoid reinforcing stereotypical images of gender which would have an negative impact on the preventive work. Male and female gamblers are both very heterogeneous categories where the specific gambling site, context and life circumstances must be acknowledged.</p><p>Prevention, research and interventions should also target CSOs if a public health approach is applied because they require help and support in their own right. CSOs also play an important to the problem gambler. More qualitative research is required to understand gendered processes in gambling, as well as further research on interventions that go beyond the individual and address gambling and problem gambling at various levels. When addressing the harmful effects of gambling from a public health perspective, it is imperative to recognize the ethical principles of justice, autonomy, doing no harm and beneficence.</p>Tue, 4 Jun 2013 14:20:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19046Anna BjärtåFEAR - A process influenced by concurrent processing demands http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19011 <p>Fear is a central aspect in mammalian evolution, prompting escape from and avoidance of threat and dangers. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that we have a well developed system to detect dangers and quickly respond to them. It has been shown that threatening information has an advantage in information processing; it seems to promote a rapid capture of selective attention and puts demand on processing resources. It has been suggested that the elicitation of fear occurs automatically, and that it is independent of and impenetrable to cognition.</p><p>The idea with the present research is that fear processing is dependent on all concurrent internal or external processing demands. One visual search study (Study II) and two secondary task studies (Study I & III) have been conducted to investigate if external or internal distraction can interfere with fear processing. In order to provoke fear responses, spider or snake fearful individuals have been exposed to pictures of their feared stimulus. The aim of Study II was to investigate if the selective attention to fear stimuli could be influenced by contextual factors, such as the nature of the distracting stimuli in a visual search. Study I and III aimed to investigate manipulation of resources allocated to fear stimuli. In Study I, task demand was used as the manipulation, and in Study III an internal cognitive directive was used. The results from these studies indicate that fear is susceptible to manipulation by both external and internal means. By changing circumstances in the surrounding or in the individuals’ internal states, responses to threatening stimuli can be altered. This means that processing of threatening stimuli is influenced by other concurrent processing demands, suggesting that a fear response is not occurring as an isolated and impenetrable process. In an evolutionary perspective, a fear system that is easily triggered but has access to cognitive evaluation at all times ought to be far more flexible, thus creating a better chance for survival than a modular and impenetrable fear system.</p>Fri, 31 May 2013 09:49:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19011Johan JasonFibre-Optic Displacement and Temperature Sensing Using Coupling Based Intensity Modulation and Polarisation Modulation Techniques http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18964 <p>Optical fibre sensors are employed in the measurements of a number of different physical properties or for event detection in safety and security systems. In those environments which suffer from electromagnetic disturbance, in harsh environments where electronics cannot survive and in applications in favour of distributed detection, fibre-optic sensors have found natural areas of use. In some cases they have replaced conventional electronic sensors due to better performance and long-term reliability, but in others they have had less success mainly due to the higher costs which are often involved in fibre-optic sensor systems.</p><p>Intensity modulated fibre-optic sensors normally require only low-cost monitoring systems principally based on light emitting diodes and photodiodes. The sensor principle itself is very elemental when based on coupling between fibres, and coupling based intensity modulated sensors have been utilised over a long period of time, mainly within displacement and vibration sensing. For distributed sensing based on intensity modulation, optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) systems with customised sensor cables have been used in the detection of heat, water leakage and hydrocarbon fluid spills.</p><p>In this thesis, new concepts for intensity modulated fibre-optic sensors based on coupling between fibres are presented, analysed, simulated and experimentally verified. From a low-cost and standard component perspective, alternative designs are proposed and analysed using modulation function simulations and measurements, in order to find an improved performance. Further, the development and installation of a temperature sensor system for industrial process monitoring is presented, involving aspects with regards to design, calibration, multiplexing and fibre network installation. The OTDR is applied as an efficient technique for multiplexing several coupling based sensors, and sensor network installation with blown fibre in microducts is proposed as a flexible and cost-efficient alternative to traditional cabling.</p><p>As a solution to alignment issues in coupling based sensors, a new displacement sensor configuration based on a fibre to a multicore fibre coupling and an image sensor readout system is proposed. With this concept a high-performance sensor setup with relaxed alignment demands and a large measurement range is realised. The sensor system performance is analysed theoretically with complete system simulations, and an experimental setup is made based on standard fibre and image acquisition components. Simulations of possible error contributions show that the experimental performance limitation is mainly related to differences between the modelled and the real coupled power distribution. An improved power model is suggested and evaluated experimentally, showing that the experimental performance can be improved down towards the theoretical limit of 1 μm.</p><p>The potential of using filled side-hole fibres and polarisation analysis for point and distributed detection of temperature limits is investigated as a complement to existing fibre-optic heat detection systems. The behaviour and change in birefringence at the liquid/solid phase transition temperature for the filler substance is shown and experimentally determined for side-hole fibres filled with water solutions and a metal alloy, and the results are supported by simulations. A point sensor for on/off temperature detection based on this principle is suggested. Further the principles of distributed detection by measurements of the change in beat length are demonstrated using polarisation OTDR (POTDR) techniques. It is shown that high-resolution techniques are required for the fibres studied, and side-hole fibres designed with lower birefringence are suggested for future studies in relation to the distributed application.</p>Wed, 22 May 2013 09:38:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18964Ewa AnderssonOberoendets praktik http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18881 <p><strong>The Independent Practice</strong></p><p>During the last hundred years, the music industry has evolved with the record labels playing a central role. However, many argue that this situation is about to change as record sales have decreased during the last ten years. This imminent change in the music industry will not only affect the multinational record labels, but also the independent record labels. As record sales have decreased during the last ten years, the number of members in the Swedish Independent Music Producers Association (SOM) has increased and the association now includes 300 independent record labels which are responsible for around 30 percent of the music being produced in Sweden. However, they can be considered a dominated group within the music industry, since they only have around 10 percent of the total market shares when it comes to selling figures. Considering the changes in record sales, the domination of the major record labels and the somewhat fascinating growth of independent actors during turbulent times, this thesis will study how the Swedish independent actors relate to the practices and ideals relevant in the daily work of running an independent record label. The practices studied in this thesis are the practice of work, the practice of recognition and the practice of content production.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how independence is constructed among the members of SOM. The thesis is based on material collected in a web survey as well as seven interviews with representatives of indie labels. The web survey was distributed to all members of SOM, and the interviewed informants were selected by snowball sampling, using a locator to find informants. The survey material was analysed with cluster and variance analysis, while the interview material was analysed using content analysis – searching for themes connected to the practices. All material is understood through the theoretical frame of the field theory.</p><p>The main results of the study are that there are different ways of relating to practices among the Swedish independent actors, and that these ways of relating are closely connected to their position within the field. There are common ways of relating to practices such as always promoting DIY, the importance of music and the need to resist the dominance of the major labels. However, the independent actors are not consistent in how these commonalities work in practice. For example, DIY is not applied if it is not economically necessary, and the need to resist the major labels is only apparent when the independent actor has a weaker position within the field. The more established an independent actor is within the field, the lesser resistant he is against the dominating structures of the music industry. As a result of a weakening resistance against the major labels, the independent actors turn to struggle each other.</p>Fri, 3 May 2013 09:53:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18881Kannan ThiagarajanMonte Carlo simulation of electron transport in semiconducting zigzag carbon nanotubes http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18799 <p>Since the advent of nanoscale material based electronic devices, there has been a considerable interest in exploring carbon nanotubes from fundamental science and technological perspectives. In carbon nanotubes, the atoms form a cylindrical structure with a diameter of the order 1nm. The length of the nanotubes can extend up to several hundred micrometers. Carbon nanotubes exhibit a variety of intriguing electronic properties such as semiconducting and metallic behaviour, due to the quantum confinement of the electrons in the circumferential direction. Much of the study dedicated to describe the behaviour of carbon nanotube-based devices assumes for simplicity the nanotube to be a ballistic material. However, in reality the phonon scattering mechanism exists also in nanotubes, of course, and can generally not be neglected, except in very short nanotubes. In this work, we focus attention on exploring the steady-state electron transport properties of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes, including both phonon scattering and defect (vacancy) scattering, using the semi-classical bulk single electron Monte Carlo method.</p><p> </p><p>The electron energy dispersion relations are obtained by applying the zone folding technique to the dispersion relations of graphene, which are calculated using the tight-binding description. The vibrational modes in the carbon nanotubes are studied using a fourth nearest-neighbour force constant model. Both the electron-phonon and the electron-defect interactions are formulated within the tight-binding framework, and their corresponding scattering rates are computed and analyzed. In particular, the dependence of the phonon scattering rate and the defect scattering rate on the diameter of the nanotube, on temperature and on electron energy is studied. It is shown that the differences observed in the scattering rate between different nanotubes mainly stem from the differences in their band structure.</p><p> </p><p>A bulk single electron Monte Carlo simulator was developed to study the electron transport in semiconducting zigzag carbon nanotubes. As a first step, we included only electron-phonon scattering, neglecting all other possible scattering mechanisms. With this scattering mechanism, the steady-state drift velocity and the mobility for the nanotubes (8,0), (10,0), (11,0), (13,0) and (25,0) were calculated as functions of the electric-field strength and lattice temperature, and the results are presented and analysed here. The dependence of the mobility on the lattice temperature can be clearly seen at low electric-field strengths. At such electric-field strengths, the scattering is almost entirely due to acoustic phonons, whereas at high electric-field strengths optical phonon emission processes dominate. It is shown that the saturation of the steady-state drift velocity at high electric-field strengths is due to the emission of high-energy optical phonons. The results indicate the presence of Negative differential resistance for some of the nanotubes considered in this work. The discrepancy found in the literature concerning the physical reason for the appearance of negative differential resistance is clarified, and a new explanation is proposed. It is also observed that the backward scattering is dominant over the forward scattering at high electric-field strengths.</p><p> </p><p>We then included also defect scattering, actually electron-vacancy scattering, for the nanotubes (10,0) and (13,0). The steady-state drift velocities for these nanotubes are calculated as functions of the density of vacancies, electric-field strength and the lattice temperature, using three different vacancy concentrations. The results indicate the presence of Negative differential resistance at very low concentration of defects, and how this feature may depend on the concentration of defects. The dependence of the steady-state drift velocity on the concentration of defect and the lattice temperature is discussed. The electron distribution functions for different temperatures and electric field strengths are also calculated and investigated for all the semiconducting nanotubes considered here. In particular, a steep barrier found in the electron distribution function is attributed to the emission of high energy optical phonons.</p>Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:37:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18799Helen OlssonAtt minska risken för våld och att främja återhämtning i den rättspsykiatriska vården : Patienters och personalens erfarenheter av vägen mot återhämtning http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19786 <p>Detta avhandlingsarbete är utfört inom en rättspsykiatrisk vårdkontext och återspeglar patienters[1] och personals[2] erfarenheter och upplevelser av vändpunkter i samband med minskad risk för våld och återhämtning. Med utgångspunkt från ett holistiskt och salutogent hälsovetenskapligt perspektiv har avhandlingen ett tvärvetenskapligt förhållningssätt. Teoretiska ämnesdiscipliner såsom psykiatrisk omvårdnad, kriminologi och sociologi har influerat arbetet.</p><p>Avhandlingens övergripande syfte var att utifrån de salutogena aspekterna i det rättspsykiatriska omvårdnadsarbetet undersöka vad som är relaterat till vändpunkter i samband med minskad risk för våld och vad som bidrar till återhämtning. Avhandlingen baseras på fyra olika studier. Syftet med den inledande kvantitativa delstudien (I) var att identifiera och jämföra rättspsykiatriska patienter som sänkt sin bedömda risk för våld med 30 % eller mer enligt riskbedömningsinstrument HCR-20. Resultatet visade att den bedömda risken för våld minskade över tid. En demografisk analys genomfördes för att studera skillnader mellan de patienter som sänkt sin bedömda risk för våld och de som inte sänkt sin risk. Det framgick att rättspsykiatriska patienter som bedömts med hjälp av riskbedömningsinstrumentet HCR-20, minskade den bedömda risken för våld, både på kort och på lång sikt. Den rättspsykiatriska vården fungerade bäst när det gällde att förbättra de kliniska riskfaktorerna (C-skalan).</p><p>Riskhanteringen (R-skalan) gällande eventuell utskrivning och framtida friförmåner visade inte samma goda progress. Demografiska karaktäristika såsom ålder, alkohol och drogmissbruk och psykiatriska diagnoser var inte relaterade till minskad risk för våld, dock var kvinnliga patienter och patienter utan psykopatidiagnos mer benägna att sänka sin risk för våld. Ett urval av de patienter som minskade sin risk för våld med 30 % eller mer utgjorde basen för delstudie II och III.</p><p>I delstudie II intervjuades tretton rättspsykiatriska patienter om upplevelser och erfarenheter kring vad som bidrar till minskad respektive ökad risk för våld inne på en rättspsykiatrisk avdelning. Data analyserades med hjälp av en tolkande beskrivning (Interpretive Description). Studien visade att orsakerna till ökad respektive minskad risk för våld var processrelaterad, där interaktioner mellan personal och patienter bidrog till en utveckling som antingen präglades av välbefinnande eller disharmoni. Delstudie II utgjorde en viktig kunskapskälla som präglade ansatsen i delstudie III och IV. Detta med hänvisning till att flertalet patienter i delstudie II lämnade intressanta beskrivningar av vändpunkter i samband med minskad risk för våld och återhämtning.</p><p>Sålunda intervjuades i delstudie III, tio rättspsykiatriska patienter om deras upplevelser av förändringsprocesser i samband med vändpunkter och återhämtning. Dataanalysen skedde med hjälp av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Processen beskrevs utifrån tre faser där man i högriskfasen upplevde kaotiska och överväldigande känslor. Vändpunkten upplevdes som ett känsligt skede som präglades av att tvingas hitta en ny, konstruktiv väg i livet. Återhämtningsfasen präglades av ett accepterande och en mognad. Stöd och erkännande från omgivningen ansåg främja dessa processer.</p><p>Delstudie IV bestod av intervjuer med tretton personal. Syftet var att belysa upplevelser och erfarenheter kring rättspsykiatriska patienters vändpunkter och återhämtning. Kvalitativ innehållsanalys användes för att analysera data. Beskrivningar kring hur en vändpunkt kunde bevaras och främjas baserades på vikten av att vara uppmärksam, lyhörd och att inte skynda på processen. En vändpunkt upplevdes genom att patienten uppvisade synbara positiva förändringar. Sammansättningen på personalen och patienterna ansågs påverka atmosfären på avdelningen, och bidrog till huruvida processen mot vändpunkter och återhämtning underlättades eller försvårades.</p><p>Avhandlingen visar hur ett ständigt växelspel mellan patienter och mellan personal bidrog till huruvida vårdatmosfären upplevdes såsom hälsofrämjande eller ej. Vidare framgår att processer kring vändpunkter i samband med minskad risk för våld och återhämtning präglades av känslor av sårbarhet och utsatthet. Processen beskrevs som ett känsligt förlopp som behövde understödjas av förtroendefulla relationer med andra, samt möjligheter att få vistas i en trygg miljö.</p><p>[1] Den vetenskapliga litteraturen använder sig av begrepp såsom client, consumer, service user eller forensic patient för att beteckna människor som är inskrivna inom den rättspsykiatriska vården. Inom det psykiatriska svenska fältet kan begreppen brukare, vårdtagare eller patient förekomma. I denna avhandling kommer begreppet patient och vårdtagare omväxlande att användas för att beteckna de människor som är föremål för den rättspsykiatriska vården. De patienter som deltagit i avhandlingens två delstudier kommer omväxlande att benämnas såsom deltagare eller patienter, för att åstadkomma en varierande och läsvänlig text.</p><p>[2] I denna avhandling anser begreppet personal den personalkategori som arbetar med omvårdnad inom en rättspsykiatrisk kontext. Det är främst sjuksköterskor och skötare som inkluderas i begreppet omvårdnadspersonal inom den vetenskapliga litteraturen. Sjuksköterskor benämns såsom registered mental health nurses eller registered nurses. Övrig omvårdnadspersonal tituleras till exempel som nurse manager eller assistant nurses. När begreppen personal, vårdare eller omvårdnadspersonal används i denna avhandling avses då den personalkategori som arbetar närmast patienten med omvårdnad och ingen åtskillnad kommer att göras mellan de båda yrkesgrupperna. Personalen som deltar i delstudie IV har omväxlande kallats för personal eller vårdare.</p>Wed, 28 Aug 2013 09:15:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19786Sebastian BaderOn the lifetime and usability of environmental monitoring wireless sensor networks http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20046 <p>Wireless sensor networks have been demonstrated, at an early stage in their development, to be a useful measurement technology for environmental monitoring applications. Based on their independence from existing infrastructures, wireless sensor networks can be deployed in virtually any location and provide sensor samples in a spatial and temporal resolution, which otherwise would only be achievable at high cost or involve significant work by humans.The feasibility of the usage of wireless sensor networks in real-world applications, however, is only maintained if certain technological challenges are overcome. Amongst these challenges, are the limited lifetime of the distributed sensor nodes, and user interfaces, which allow for the technology to be utilized in an efficient manner. Contributions to the solution of these challenges have been the objective of this thesis.</p><p>After an analysis of the contributions wireless sensor networks can provide</p><p>to the application domain of environmental monitoring, and the introduction</p><p>to the restrictions, which are posed by a limited operational lifetime and low</p><p>system usability, these issues are addressed at the system level of sensor nodedevices.</p><p>The lifetime of sensor nodes, which is closely linked to the lifetime of the</p><p>complete wireless sensor network, is addressed with regards to the energy</p><p>efficiency of nodes, as well as the utilization of solar energy harvesting in</p><p>order to increase the available energy resources. With respect to energy</p><p>efficiency, an analysis has been performed of the contributions to the energy</p><p>consumption of environmental monitoring sensor nodes, which leads to the</p><p>desire to minimize the nodes' duty cycles and quiescent currents. A sensor</p><p>node design is presented, which features energy efficiency as a key attribute by utilizingmodern semiconductor architectures. Moreover, an argument for the usage of synchronization-based, contention-free communication is made</p><p>in order to reduce active communication periods and, thus, the duty cycle</p><p>of a sensor node. A synchronization method with its focus on low protocol</p><p>overhead is introduced as a basis for such communication forms. After an initial feasibility study in relation to using battery-less solar energy</p><p>harvesting architectures in locations with limited solar irradiation, multiple</p><p>architectural implementations are analyzed in a comparative manner.</p><p>Among these comparisons is an analysis of short-termenergy storage devices in the form of double-layer capacitors and thin-film batteries, which provide prolonged component lifetimes than those for conventional secondary batteries, but which can only buffer for short periods of time due to their limited energy capacity. In order to be able to dimension such energy harvesting systems with respect to the individual application constraints at hand, state of charge simulations are proposed. Amethod for such simulations is presented and demonstrated for the implementation of an energy harvester model on a component basis. While the modeling in this manner is time consuming, the model can predict the state of charge of the energy buffer in the architecture with a high level of accuracy. Finally, a method for the systematic evaluation of solar energy harvesting architectures is presented. The presented method can be summarized as a solar energy harvesting testbed, which utilizes configurable energy harvesting circuits in order to create a deploy-once-test-many type of system. The output results of this testbed can significantly improve</p><p>the efficiency of architecture comparisons and system modeling.</p><p>Contributions to the improvement of the usability of wireless sensor nodes</p><p>are made on two separate levels, namely, developer usability and end user</p><p>usability. A method for the programming of sensor nodes based on hierarchical finite state machines is presented, which improves the usability of software development by creating familiarity for technically experienced</p><p>users. Moreover, the utilization of finite state machine principles allows</p><p>for the software to be developed in a systematic andmodular manner. As</p><p>implemented applications typically require to be verified, which, in the environmental monitoring domain, usually results in outdoor deployments,</p><p>usability considerations for sensor nodes are presented, which can simplify</p><p>this process. Special attention has been paid in order for these improvements to be achieved with low overheads. While software development is a familiar concept for most system developers, this is not the case for the end users of these systems, who are typically domain experts. In order to allow for wireless sensor nodes to be operated</p><p>by domain experts, a method for the configuration of sensor nodes has been proposed.The method uses a combination of graphical specification of the node behavior and a configurable sensor node. Theevaluation of this method, which has been based on a proof-of-concept implementation, demonstrated that the performance can remain high, while end users, without technical experience, are enabled to configure sensor nodes without prior training.</p><p>In summary, the contributions, presented in this thesis, address system</p><p>lifetime and usability with regards to the sensor node level. The results have</p><p>led to the implementation of an energy efficient sensor node, which allows for the operation frombattery-less solar energy harvesting sources. Furthermore, support tools for the implementation of these nodes, both on the hardware and software level, have been proposed.</p>Wed, 23 Oct 2013 13:21:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20046Siv GravThe relationship between social support, personality and depression in the general population : Focusing on older people http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18715 <p>Today's wide variety of diseases and health problems are</p><p>influenced in part by an aging population and by environmental and</p><p>lifestyle changes. Depression is one of the most quickly growing</p><p>disorders, causing a huge decrease in quality of life. Depression also</p><p>increases with age. The expected increase in the number of older</p><p>people in the years to come might lead to an increasing problem of</p><p>increased case loads for primary health care in the coming years as</p><p>the delivery of healthcare services shifts from clinical settings to the</p><p>home. People who lack social support are more likely to experience</p><p>poorer quality of life, including depression. Personality is a robust</p><p>predictor of behaviour and essential life outcomes. The aim of this</p><p>thesis is to describe the relationship between social support,</p><p>personality and depression in the general population, with a focus on</p><p>older people.</p><p>This thesis used data from the Nord-Trondelag Health Study</p><p>(HUNT), a large census population survey in Norway. Paper I (n=</p><p>40,659), II (n= 35,832), and III (n=35,797) used data from HUNT3</p><p>(2006-2008), and Paper IV (n=25,626) used data from both HUNT2</p><p>(1995-1997) and HUNT3. Paper I, II, and III used cross-sectional</p><p>designs and paper IV used a longitudinal design. The age of the</p><p>sample was 20−89, divided into three age-groups: 20−64 years</p><p>(adults), 65−74 years (old), and 75−89 years (oldest old). Depression</p><p>was measured with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale</p><p>(HADS in the HUNT2 and 3), personality was measured with a short</p><p>version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ in the</p><p>HUNT3), and social support was examined with single questions</p><p>about perceived support from friends (HUNT2 and 3).</p><p>iii</p><p>The main finding in Paper I was that self-rated perceived support</p><p>was significantly associated with depression, even after controlling</p><p>for age and gender, emotional support (OR = 3.14), and tangible</p><p>support (OR = 2.93). The effects of emotional and tangible support</p><p>differ between genders. Interaction effects were found for age groups</p><p>as well as emotional and tangible support. Paper II showed a</p><p>relationship between depression and both neuroticism and</p><p>extraversion in a general population. Older people are more likely to</p><p>score low on extraversion (E) than younger people. Interactions were</p><p>observed between neuroticism and age, neuroticism and gender, and</p><p>extraversion with depression. The interaction terms indicates a high</p><p>score on neuroticism (N) is enhanced by introversion, older age, and</p><p>being a male with depression. Paper III showed a significant</p><p>association between levels of perceived social support, personality,</p><p>sense of community in the neighbourhood, and civic participation.</p><p>Women frequently reported higher levels of social support, and</p><p>higher scores on both extraversion and neuroticism than men, while</p><p>men reported higher sense of community in the neighbourhood and</p><p>levels of civic participation than women. Paper IV showed that risk</p><p>factors had a greater effect on new cases than on recovery from</p><p>depression. The greatest association with new cases of depression</p><p>was found for male sex, the oldest age group, melancholics, those</p><p>who lacked social support, those who never participated in social</p><p>activities, those with decreasing community in the neighbourhood,</p><p>those with poor health, and those who have gotten divorced. The</p><p>greatest association with recovery from depression was found for</p><p>female sex, sanguine temperament, those with social support, those</p><p>who participated in social activities, those with increasing</p><p>iv</p><p>community in the neighbourhood, and those who have obtained</p><p>better health.</p><p>The findings show that both social support and personality are</p><p>risk factors for developing depression. Nurses should put extra effort</p><p>into how they care for patients with low extraversion, high</p><p>neuroticism and, low social support in order to help these patients</p><p>avoid depression. Nurses have to "see the patient" and "care about",</p><p>and respect patient’s values, preferences and expressed needs.</p>Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:53:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18715Tomas NilsonSome matters of great balance http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18757 <p>This thesis is based on four papers dealing with two different areas of mathematics.Paper I–III are in combinatorics, while Paper IV is in mathematical physics.In combinatorics, we work with design theory, one of whose applications aredesigning statistical experiments. Specifically, we are interested in symmetric incompleteblock designs (SBIBDs) and triple arrays and also the relationship betweenthese two types of designs.In Paper I, we investigate when a triple array can be balanced for intersectionwhich in the canonical case is equivalent to the inner design of the correspondingsymmetric balanced incomplete block design (SBIBD) being balanced. For this we derivenew existence criteria, and in particular we prove that the residual designof the related SBIBD must be quasi-symmetric, and give necessary and sufficientconditions on the intersection numbers. We also address the question of whenthe inner design is balanced with respect to every block of the SBIBD. We showthat such SBIBDs must possess the quasi-3 property, and we answer the existencequestion for all know classes of these designs.As triple arrays balanced for intersections seem to be very rare, it is natural toask if there are any other families of row-column designs with this property. In PaperII we give necessary and sufficient conditions for balanced grids to be balancedfor intersection and prove that all designs in an infinite family of binary pseudo-Youden designs are balanced for intersection.Existence of triple arrays is an open question. There is one construction of aninfinite, but special family called Paley triple arrays, and one general method forwhich one of the steps is unproved. In Paper III we investigate a third constructionmethod starting from Youden squares. This method was suggested in the literaturea long time ago, but was proven not to work by a counterexample. We show interalia that Youden squares from projective planes can never give a triple array bythis method, but that for every triple array corresponding to a biplane, there is asuitable Youden square for which the method works. Also, we construct the familyof Paley triple arrays by this method.In mathematical physics we work with solitons, which in nature can be seen asself-reinforcing waves acting like particles, and in mathematics as solutions of certainnon-linear differential equations. In Paper IV we study the non-commutativeversion of the two-dimensional Toda lattice for which we construct a family ofsolutions, and derive explicit solution formulas.</p>Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:41:27 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18757Patrick BrouderTourism Development in Peripheral Areas : Processes of Local Innovation and Change in Northern Sweden http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18664 <p>Tourism has reached almost all regions of the world and has had a notable growth in the peripheral regions of Europe. Attempts at tourism development in rural and peripheral areas have resulted in widely varying outcomes and have often been undertaken as a last resort by communities. Despite mixed results, tourism persists as a tool for regional development. There has not been so much research on the evolving nature of tourism entrepreneurship in regions where tourism is relatively new as a commercial/entrepreneurial activity, e.g., the rural and peripheral north of Europe. This thesis presents Northern Sweden as a regional case study but it is reasonable to assume that the research results are transferable to similar regions with a similar range of nature-based tourism in small communities.</p><p> </p><p>The results show that tourism stakeholders co-evolve over time even though formal networks are loose and project-based (Article 1). Tourism firm survival improves for entrepreneurs with previous related experience but there is not necessarily an outsider advantage and new tourism firms contribute to job creation despite high rates of attrition (Article II). Protected areas with unique attributes (e.g., Laponia) can attract distant entrepreneurs but must manage these stakeholders more proactively (Article III). Climate change is a long-term challenge with firms not needing to adapt yet but facing differing exposures dependent on location and firm mobility (Article IV). Finally, evolutionary economic geography helps to better understand the processes of change in tourism in rural and peripheral areas (Article V).</p>Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:42:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18664Maria Kallberg'The Emperor's New Clothes' Recordkeeping in a New Context http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20217 <p>This thesis examines if and how information capture and documentation practices and the function of the public archive are changing in relation to archival concepts in contemporary administrative settings, as a result of e-government strategic development. The study aims for a holistic approach from the beginning of the life of the records to their long-term preservation.</p><p>This research is situated in Sweden where the recordkeeping legislation takes a holistic approach: records management is understood as a dimension of the archival function and therefore records managers have not been recognised as a professional group, however recordkeeping practice involves two occupational groups: registrars and archivists. Swedish recordkeeping legislation is based on long administrative traditions in which the public right of free access to official documents is fundamental. Registration of official documents is important as the means of facilitating the citizens´ right to free access information and registrars are primarily responsible for this process, including classification. Archivists manage the full range of recordkeeping tasks, acting not only as custodians of repositories but also strategic experts on recordkeeping as well as auditing on behalf of the archival authority. The archive legally consists of all the ‘official documents’ created or received in the organisation.</p><p>This is an explorative and documented case study that used several local government bodies (municipalities) for the data collection by document analysis and interviews. Swedish municipalities are particularly interesting because they are autonomous in relation to the national government, with complex organisational structures consisting of several politically controlled committees and administrative departments that implement political decisions and provide services to the public. The National Archives does not have any supervisory role or monitoring function over local governments, but it does publish guidelines on recordkeeping. Nevertheless, the municipalities are controlled to a large extent by the implemented policies decided at national level by the Government and Parliament. Therefore, national initiatives regarding e-government have impacted on the municipalities’ recordkeeping.</p><p>A theoretical lens combining archival science and theory of professions has been chosen to analyse the observed changes in practice. The thesis analyses the issue of recordkeeping awareness in three arenas: the legal arena; the political arena; and the workplace arena in the light of the records continuum model.</p><p>The research findings demonstrate a gap between the legal and workplace arenas caused by lack of recordkeeping awareness primarily within the political arena. Despite the holistic view of keeping archives expressed in the recordkeeping legislation, observed practice appears closer to a life cycle model than proactive continuum thinking and planning. A lack of recordkeeping legislation awareness in the wider organisation is potentially leading to a division between records management and archives management, jeopardising the continuum approach. Consequently registrars may in the future become more like records managers and archivists may be losing part of their professional jurisdiction. There is a strong focus on business benefits to the organisation rather than the wider view of democratic values and cultural heritage. As a result: archivists seem to suffer a lack of resources as well as skills in order to carry out their responsibilities. The future role of archival authorities such as the National Archives is unclear.</p>Fri, 15 Nov 2013 12:44:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20217Muhammad ImranEnergy Efficient and Programmable Architecture for Wireless Vision Sensor Node http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20179 <p>Wireless Vision Sensor Networks (WVSNs) is an emerging field which has attracted a number of potential applications because of smaller per node cost, ease of deployment, scalability and low power stand alone solutions. WVSNs consist of a number of wireless Vision Sensor Nodes (VSNs). VSN has limited resources such as embedded processing platform, power supply, wireless radio and memory. In the presence of these limited resources, a VSN is expected to perform complex vision tasks for a long duration of time without battery replacement/recharging. Currently, reduction of processing and communication energy consumptions have been major challenges for battery operated VSNs. Another challenge is to propose generic solutions for a VSN so as to make these solutions suitable for a number of applications.</p><p>To meet these challenges, this thesis focuses on energy efficient and programmable VSN architecture for machine vision systems which can classify objects based on binary data. In order to facilitate generic solutions, a taxonomy has been developed together with a complexity model which can be used for systems’ classification and comparison without the need for actual implementation. The proposed VSN architecture is based on tasks partitioning between a VSN and a server as well as tasks partitioning locally on the node between software and hardware platforms. In relation to tasks partitioning, the effect on processing, communication energy consumptions, design complexity and lifetime has been investigated.</p><p>The investigation shows that the strategy, in which front end tasks up to segmentation, accompanied by a bi-level coding, are implemented on Field Programmable Platform (FPGA) with small sleep power, offers a generalized low complexity and energy efficient VSN architecture. The implementation of data intensive front end tasks on hardware reconfigurable platform reduces processing energy. However, there is a scope for reducing communication energy, related to output data. This thesis also explores data reduction techniques including image coding, region of interest coding and change coding which reduces output data significantly.</p><p>For proof of concept, VSN architecture together with tasks partitioning, bi-level video coding, duty cycling and low complexity background subtraction technique has been implemented on real hardware and functionality has been verified for four applications including particle detection system, remote meter reading, bird detection and people counting. The results based on measured energy values shows that, depending on the application, the energy consumption can be reduced by a factor of approximately 1.5 up to 376 as compared to currently published VSNs. The lifetime based on measured energy values showed that for a sample period of 5 minutes, VSN can achieve 3.2 years lifetime with a battery of 37.44 kJ energy. In addition to this, proposed VSN offers generic architecture with smaller design complexity on hardware reconfigurable platform and offers easy adaptation for a number of applications as compared to published systems.</p>Mon, 11 Nov 2013 15:59:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20179Carolina KlockmoThe role of personligt ombud in supporting the recovery process for people with psychiatric disabilities http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20187 <p>The overall aim was to explore the experiences and knowledge of Personligt Ombud (PO) (a Swedish version of Case Management) and how they relate to the client's recovery as well as their own role of supporting clients in the recovery process. The thesis consists of four original papers (I-IV), and both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Paper I showed that there were differences in knowledge and attitude toward recovery between three personnel groups: psychiatric outpatient services (POPS), the supported housing team (SHT) and the PO service, where the POs showed greater knowledge about recovery than both POPS and SHT. The results also indicated that university education and training in recovery was positive related to knowledge and attitudes towards recovery. Findings from papers II - IV showed that the clients' choices permeated all of the work that the POs and clients did together. The strategies used by the POs put the client in an active changing process, where he/she became involved in every aspect of the process. The work of the PO included discussions and collaboration with clients. The relationship with the client was the foundation of the work, and it was important to build a working alliance, which also involved a personal dimension. The findings also showed that POs experienced their role as unbounded, where they didn't have to consider any organizational frames, and POs solely represent the client. However, the free role was also connected with responsibilities concerning their work, and POs had to be able to work independently. The role as POs also enables to get a holistic view to both the client as well as to the welfare system. However, the freestanding role demanded legitimacy, and the POs had to work for this. It was important for the PO service to develop good platforms for cooperation with other actors in the society. In conclusion, it is interesting and leads to the question of whether POs and personnel in POPS can relate to two different kinds of recovery: personal vs. clinical. It may be important to consider the need for university education and training in recovery developing recovery-oriented practices. Findings showed that the PO service has developed a method in accordance to the NBHW guidelines, which in many cases, may benefit the clients' recovery process; however, there were aspects the PO service needed to develop. They seemed to use a problem-oriented approach, and they need to change this and look at the clients' strengths, both individual and environmental, and use them in order to support the client to reach goals in life. In Strengths Model Case Management, the Strengths assessment exists, that may be useful. The POs' service also needs to strengthen their organization and possibly develop support among colleagues.</p>Mon, 11 Nov 2013 15:53:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20187Malin Rising HolmströmThe Health Dialogue concept : School children's Self-Reported-Health in a Swedish Context http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20073 <p>The overall aim of this thesis was to explore and describe schoolchildren's selfreported-health based on the Health Dialogue concept as well as to identify healthindicators and their possible associations in the perspective of 6 to 16 year-olds,and to provide an analysis of school nurses´ experiences of using the HealthDialogue concept, in the County of Västernorrland. The thesis was based on fourstudies (I-IV). Study I was qualitative using a descriptive design, based onindividual interviews with school nurses who had working experience of using theHealth Dialogue concept. Studies II-IV were quantitative with cross sectional andlongitudinal design based on statistical data from the Health Dialogue concept, apopulation survey among schoolchildren. The data were analyzed usingqualitative content analysis (I) and regression analyses (II-IV).Study I showed that the school nurses had developed their own commonapproach, a health promotion model derived from experiences of working with theHealth Dialogue concept. Study II showed that the most important health variablesinfluencing pre-schoolchildren´s positive self-reported-health were experience ofcomfort in preschool, good sleep, absence of headaches, being physicalactive/playing daily, and not being a victim for bullying. Both boys and girlsneeded to experience comfort, being physical active, and not being bullied. Forgirls, positive self-reported-health seemed to be more dependent on comfort, beingphysical active/playing, and not being bullied, whereas boy’s health was moredependent on eating school lunch daily and not experiencing headaches.Study III revealed that in 10-year-old children´s positive self-reported-health,comfort in school, normal iso- body mass index and absence of headaches wereshown to be significantly important health indicators. Normal iso- body massindex (girls) and absence of headaches (boys) were shown to have a potentiallycausal effect on 10-year-old children's positive self-reported-health. Study IVrevealed several significantly important health indicators in schoolchildren´shealth during three school transitions in the Swedish Education system (betweenthe ages of 6-10, 10-13 and 13-16); not experiencing being sad/depressed,afraid/worried, experiencing the school environment positively (schoolyard andivrestrooms), not being bullied, having good sleep, daily physical activity/play andability to concentrate. Gender and age differences were also identified. The HealthDialogue concept, contributes increased knowledge and a new cross sectional andlongitudinal perspective to individual, school, community and organization’sperception of schoolchildren´s self-reported-health. Furthermore, these resultsdemonstrate the importance and validity of children´s experiences in the context ofhealth and should contribute to future health promotion activities and schoolbasedinterventions.Key words: Health promotion, health dialogue, longitudinal design, school nurses,schoolchildren, self-reported-health.</p>Mon, 4 Nov 2013 15:43:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20073Maria WarneDär eleverna är : Ett arenaperspektiv på skolan som en stödjande miljö för hälsa http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20149 <p>Hälsa skapas inte i ett vakuum utan i relation mellan individer och omgivning. Skolan är därför en viktig arena för barn och ungdomar eftersom de tillbringar större delen av sin vakna tid där. Tidigare forskning har framförallt riktats mot riskfaktorer relaterade till barn och ungas psykiska ohälsa, mindre mot vad som främjar och stärker möjligheterna till deras positiva hälsa. Genom ett salutogent perspektiv kan kunskap erhållas om faktorer som bidrar till en stödjande miljö för hälsa. För att få förståelse för nya generationers behov och värderingar behöver elever göras delaktiga i studier och utveckling av sin egen vardagsmiljö.</p><p>Avhandlingens syfte var att studera skolan som en stödjande miljö för hälsa genom att involvera elever och att finna metoder för att studera de positiva aspekterna av hälsa. Artiklarnas syften inkluderade utmaningar och möjligheter att använda en metod för ökad delaktighet, fördjupa förståelsen om aspekter som främjar hälsa och lärande, med särskilt fokus på delaktighet och stöd samt hur positiv hälsa kan mätas.</p><p>Elever på en gymnasieskola valdes som deltagare i två kvalitativa studier. Metoden photovoice studerades genom ljudinspelning av elevernas dialog under arbetet med photovoice och deras och lärarnas synpunkter under fokusgruppsintervjuerna. Data analyserades med innehållsanalys (I). Grundad teori användes för att studera elevernas syn på vad som var viktigt för hälsa och lärande (II). En enkät användes för att ta fram en positiv hälsoskala och för att studera faktorer associerade till hälsa bland elever årskurs 6-9. Enkäten besvarades av 1527 elever (52,3% flickor, 47,7% pojkar) i årskurs 6-9 i skolorna i Östersunds kommun. Svarsfrekvensen var 80%. En principalkomponentanalys användes anpassa och validera en positiv hälsoskala till åldersgruppen 12-16 år (III). För att studera associationen mellan faktorer som kunde vara associerade till positiv hälsa valdes multipel logistisk regressionsanalys (IV).</p><p>Resultatet visade att photovoice fungerade som en metod i gymnasieskolan för ökad delaktighet i frågor relaterade till hälsa och lärande. Metoden behövde dock anpassas till elevgruppen. Photovoice upplevdes som stimulerande men också utmanade av både lärare och elever. Kritiska aspekter för metodens användbarhet var knutna till lärarrollen och den demokratiska organisationen (I). Elevernas syn på vad som främjade hälsa och lärande var relaterat till bemötande, personligt och pedagogiskt stöd samt möjligheter till återhämtning. Resultatet visade också att eleverna upplevde att skolan bidrog till att skapa skillnad mellan dem som upplevde sig vara låg- respektive högpresterande (II). Den positiva hälsoskalan (PHS) visade sig vara valid för elever 12-16 år och skalan bör kunna användas i ett sytematiskt hälsofrämjande arbetet där utgångspunkten är ett salutogent perspektiv (III). Faktorer associerade till positiv hälsa bland flickor och pojkar, 12-16 år, var: upplevd delaktighet i klassrummet, stöd från lärare och kamrater samt stöd från båda föräldrarna. Socioekonomisk status, mätt som att ha pengar som kompisar, visade sig vara oberoende associerat till positiv hälsa (IV).</p><p>Slutsatsen var att betydelsefulla faktorer för en stödjande miljö för hälsa i skolan är; elevers upplevelse av och möjlighet till delaktighet i klassrummet och i skolans arbetsmiljö, personligt stöd från lärare såväl som stöd i undervisningen, stöd från kamrater och förutsättningar för återhämtning under och efter skoldagen. Samtidigt visade resultatet att det finns skillnader mellan olika grupper av elever relaterat till hälsa och stöd.</p><p>För att utveckla en stödjande miljö för hälsa i skolan kan photovoice användas för att involvera eleverna och upptäcka unika aspekter på den enskilda skolan. Med hjälp av den positiva hälsoskalan (PHS) kan främjande faktorer kartläggas, vilket ökar möjligheterna till ett systematiskt hälsofrämjande arbete med ett salutogent perspektiv.</p>Wed, 6 Nov 2013 15:53:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20149Radhika AmbatipudiHigh Frequency (MHz) Planar Transformers for Next Generation Switch Mode Power Supplies http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20270 <p>Increasing the power density of power electronic converters while reducing or maintaining the same cost, offers a higher potential to meet the current trend inrelation to various power electronic applications. High power density converters can be achieved by increasing the switching frequency, due to which the bulkiest parts, such as transformer, inductors and the capacitor's size in the convertercircuit can be drastically reduced. In this regard, highly integrated planar magnetics are considered as an effective approach compared to the conventional wire wound transformers in modern switch mode power supplies (SMPS). However, as the operating frequency of the transformers increase from several hundred kHz to MHz, numerous problems arise such as skin and proximity effects due to the induced eddy currents in the windings, leakage inductance and unbalanced magnetic flux distribution. In addition to this, the core losses whichare functional dependent on frequency gets elevated as the operating frequency increases. Therefore, this thesis provides an insight towards the problems related to the high frequency magnetics and proposes a solution with regards to different aspects in relation to designing high power density, energy efficient transformers.The first part of the thesis concentrates on the investigation of high power density and highly energy efficient coreless printed circuit board (PCB) step-down transformers useful for stringent height DC-DC converter applications, where the core losses are being completely eliminated. These transformers also maintain the advantages offered by existing core based transformers such as, high coupling coefficient, sufficient input impedance, high energy efficiency and wide frequencyband width with the assistance of a resonant technique. In this regard, several coreless PCB step down transformers of different turn’s ratio for power transfer applications have been designed and evaluated. The designed multilayered coreless PCB transformers for telecom and PoE applications of 8,15 and 30W show that the volume reduction of approximately 40 - 90% is possible when compared to its existing core based counterparts while maintaining the energy efficiency of the transformers in the range of 90 - 97%. The estimation of EMI emissions from the designed transformers for the given power transfer application proves that the amount of radiated EMI from a multilayered transformer is lessthan that of the two layered transformer because of the decreased radius for thesame amount of inductance.The design guidelines for the multilayered coreless PCB step-down transformer for the given power transfer application has been proposed. The designed transformer of 10mm radius has been characterized up to the power level of 50Wand possesses a record power density of 107W/cm<sup>3</sup> with a peak energy efficiency of 96%. In addition to this, the design guidelines of the signal transformer fordriving the high side MOSFET in double ended converter topologies have been proposed. The measured power consumption of the high side gate drive circuitvitogether with the designed signal transformer is 0.37W. Both these signal andpower transformers have been successfully implemented in a resonant converter topology in the switching frequency range of 2.4 – 2.75MHz for the maximum load power of 34.5W resulting in the peak energy efficiency of converter as 86.5%.This thesis also investigates the indirect effect of the dielectric laminate on the magnetic field intensity and current density distribution in the planar power transformers with the assistance of finite element analysis (FEA). The significanceof the high frequency dielectric laminate compared to FR-4 laminate in terms of energy efficiency of planar power transformers in MHz frequency region is also explored.The investigations were also conducted on different winding strategies such as conventional solid winding and the parallel winding strategies, which play an important role in the design and development of a high frequency transformer and suggested a better choice in the case of transformers operating in the MHz frequency region.In the second part of the thesis, a novel planar power transformer with hybrid core structure has been designed and evaluated in the MHz frequency region. The design guidelines of the energy efficient high frequency planar power transformerfor the given power transfer application have been proposed. The designed corebased planar transformer has been characterized up to the power level of 50W and possess a power density of 47W/cm3 with maximum energy efficiency of 97%. This transformer has been evaluated successfully in the resonant converter topology within the switching frequency range of 3 – 4.5MHz. The peak energy efficiency ofthe converter is reported to be 92% and the converter has been tested for the maximum power level of 45W, which is suitable for consumer applications such as laptop adapters. In addition to this, a record power density transformer has been designed with a custom made pot core and has been characterized in thefrequency range of 1 - 10MHz. The power density of this custom core transformer operating at 6.78MHz frequency is 67W/cm<sup>3</sup> and with the peak energy efficiency of 98%.In conclusion, the research in this dissertation proposed a solution for obtaining high power density converters by designing the highly integrated, high frequency(1 - 10MHz) coreless and core based planar magnetics with energy efficiencies inthe range of 92 - 97%. This solution together with the latest semiconductor GaN/SiC switching devices provides an excellent choice to meet the requirements of the next generation ultra flat low profile switch mode power supplies (SMPS).</p>Fri, 22 Nov 2013 12:42:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20270Lisa ÖbergTreeline dynamics in short and long term perspectives : observational and historical evidence from the southern Swedish Scandes http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18458 <p>Treelines in high-mountain regions are constrained by heat deficiency, although the working mechanisms are still not entirely understood. Observational and paleoecological studies on treeline performance may contribute to increased understanding of the treeline phenomenon in general. The present thesis addresses elevational shifts of alpine treelines in the Swedish Scandes. By various analytical tools, the studies embrace widely different temporal scales.</p><p>The concept treeline refers to the elevation (m a.s.l.) at a specific site of the upper individual tree of a certain tree species, at least 2 m tall. All the principal tree species in the Scandes are concerned, i.e. mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii), Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris).</p><p>Paper I deals with regional treeline dynamics at more than 100 sites over the past 100 years. Concurrent with temperature rise by c. 1.4 °C over the same period, maximum treeline advances of all species amount to about 200 m. Thus, under ideal conditions, treelines respond in close equilibrium with air temperature evolution. However, over most parts of the landscape, treeline upshifts have been much smaller than 200 m, which relates to the combined action of geomorphology, wind, snow distribution and soil depth. After 1975, the birch has lost its role as the most rapidly advancing tree species, being superseded by pine and spruce.</p><p>Paper II is a short-term (2005/2007-2010/2011) study of mountain birch treeline performance along a regional maritimity-continentality gradient. Upshift by 3.0 yr-1 in the maritime part of the gradient contrasts to retreat by 0.4 m yr-1 in the continental part. In the latter area, earlier and more complete melting of late-lying snow patches has seemingly progressed to a state when soil drought sets back the vigour of existing birches and precludes sexual regeneration and upslope advance of the treeline. In the maritime area, extensive and deep snow packs still exist above the treeline and constrain its position, although some release is taking place in the current warm climate.</p><p>Paper III explores treeline change by phenotypic transformation of old-established stunted and prostrate spruce individuals (krummholz) growing high above the treeline and is based on analyses of radiocarbon-dated megafossils, preserved in the soil underneath clonal groups of spruce. Living spruce clones, which in some cases may date back to the early Holocene (9500 cal. yr BP), suggests that spruce immigrated from “cryptic” ice age refugia much closer to Scandinavia than conventionally thought. As the krummholz form presupposes open and windy habitats, it is inferred that permanently open spots prevailed in the high-mountain landscape even during periods when treelines in general were much higher than today.</p><p>Paper IV reports radiocarbon dates of wood samples, retrieved from newly exposed glacier forefields at three main sites, located high above the modern treelines and embracing the entire Swedish Scandes. It appears that pine colonized early emerging nunataks already during the Late Glacial. Around 9600-9500 cal. yr BP a first massive wave of tree establishment, birch and pine, took place in “empty” glacier cirques. Both species grew 400-600 m above their present day treeline position and accordingly, the summer temperatures may have been 3.5 °C warmer than present (uncorrected for land uplift). During the entire interval 9600 to 4400 cal. yr BP, birch prospered 100-150 m above the uppermost pines. In response to Neoglacial cooling, treelines of both birch and pine descended until their final disappearance from the record 4400 and 5900 cal. yr BP, respectively. Thereafter, these habitats experienced increased snow accumulation and glacier inception.</p>Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:15:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18458Anneli HanssonArbete med skolutveckling - En potentiell gränszon mellan verksamheter? : Ett verksamhetsteoretiskt perspektiv på en svensk skolas arbete över tid med att verksamhetsintegrera IT http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19877 <p>I en skola som historiskt präglats av en differentierad arbetsorganisation och autonoma traditioner kan ett skolövergripande arbete med att verksamhetsintegrera informationsteknik antas ställa aktörerna inför en rad utmaningar som involverar både omskapande och nyskapande processer. Föreliggande studie utgör ett bidrag till att med en holistisk och verksamhetsteoretisk ansats utforska arbete med förändring, i detta fall ett arbete med att verksamhetsintegrera modern teknik, i skärningspunkten mellan en skolas arbete med att sprida och utveckla teknikbruk över skolan samt dess lärares arbete med pedagogisk praxisförändring. Studiens övergripande fråga löd: <em>Hur kan arbete med skolutveckling förstås och förklaras i det potentiella spänningsfältet mellan arbete med skolförändring och lärares arbete med eller motstånd mot pedagogisk praxisförändring? </em>Syftet var att utforska den förändringsprocess som uppstod när en skola satte i sikte att utveckla ”digitala” kompetenser och IT-stödd undervisning inom dess verksamhetsområde liksom att över tid följa lärare, IT-pedagoger och skolledare i detta arbete. Studien genomfördes över tre år mellan hösten 2008 och våren 2011 som en etnografiskt orienterad fallstudie vid en 7–9 skola i en mellanstor svensk stad. Dataproduktionen skedde genom närvaro vid skolan och på nätet genom deltagande och ickedeltagande observationer, genom informella samtal, semistrukturerade intervjuer, dokumentinsamling samt genom en enkät. Resultatet visar framför allt hur verksamhetsintegreringen av IT, bland de lärare som utforskar informationstekniken, i hög utsträckning motiveras av undervisningsrelaterade och elevutvecklande behov, medan arbetet med att leda skolans arbete med verksamhetsintegrering av IT i högre utsträckning motiveras av organisationsrelaterade behov, samt att dessa skilda motiv framträder på olika och systemiskt inkonsekvent sätt inom skolan. Utifrån studiens resultat formuleras tre interrelaterade utmaningar för skolutveckling. Dessa rör (a) praxis- och objektsförståelse, vilket uppfattas ha betydelse för möjligheter att åstadkomma gemensam riktning i ett kollektivt och flerstämmigt arbete, samt (b) förutsättningar för gränsöverskridande lärprocesser inom skolan mellan lärare sinsemellan liksom mellan lärare och skolledning jämte (c) processledarskap och dess förutsättningar.</p>Thu, 19 Sep 2013 10:07:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19877Jinlan GaoAntenna-based passive UHF RFID sensor tags : Design and application http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19889 <p>RFID, as a low cost technology with a long life time, provides great potential for transmitting sensor data in combination with the ordinary ID number. The sensor can, for example, be integrated either in the chip or in the antenna of an RFID tag.This thesis focuses on the design of antenna-based UHF RFID sensor tags as wireless sensors at the lowest possible cost level compatible with standard communication systems in logistics. The applications of the sensor tags, in this work, mainly target remote humidity sensing. Antenna-based sensory UHF RFID tags utilize the influence that the physical or chemical parameters to be sensed have on the electrical properties of a tag antenna. The variations of the electrical properties of the tag antenna can be measured in many ways. In the thesis, a description is provided as to how these variations are normally measured by an RFID reader without any other assistant equipment. Three structures of antenna-based RFID sensor tags are presented with detailed characterizations. The first one utilizes the sensitivity of the antenna to the surrounding environment to construct RFID sensor tags, where a moisture absorbing layer providing wetness/humidity sensor functionality is placed on the RFID tag antenna to increase the humidity concentration surrounding the tag antenna and the thesis describes how to overcome certain limitations due to disturbances associated with background materials. The second structure directly integrates a small resistive sensor element into an RFID tag antenna and the sensor information can thus modulate the antenna performance by means of galvanic contact. The third structure embeds a small resistive sensor element into a loop which is positioned on top of the tag antenna and the sensor information can thus modulate the performance of the tag antenna by means of electromagnetic coupling. Both theoretical analysis and fullwave simulations are presented for the latter two sensor tag structures in order to characterize the performance of the sensor tags. An ultra-low cost printed humidity sensor with memory functionality is also designed and thoroughly characterized for integration into RFID tag antennas by means of galvanic contact or electromagnetic coupling. The sensor is a 1-bit write-once-read-many (WORM) memory printed using conductive ink. The WORM works as a pure resistive humidity sensor and can provide information about an historical event. The WORM sensor is presented by introducing its geometry, characterizingits behavior in humidity and explaining the principle of the humidity effect. The WORM sensors are also integrated into the RFID tags by means of both galvanic contact and electromagnetic coupling in order to experimentally verify the two concepts. To lower the cost of the RFID tags, the antennas are normally printed, milledor etched on flexible substrates using low-cost high-speed manufacturing methods which in some cases cause a high degree of edge roughness. The edge roughness will affect the behavior of the antenna, however, the characteristics of edge roughness on RFID antennas have previously not received any significant attention. Unforeseen antenna behavior can affect the antenna-based sensor tags, thus the influence of edge roughness is also investigated in the thesis.</p>Thu, 19 Sep 2013 12:58:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19889Åsa CarlsundChildren`s Mental Health -with focus on family arrangements http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19759 <p>The main aim of this thesis was to study children’s mental health with focus on family arrangements. The thesis was based on four studies (I-IV). Study number I, III and IV were quantitative studies with cross sectional design, using the Swedish version of Health behaviour in School- aged children (HBSC), including children aged 11, 13 and 15 years. The data was analysed with multiple linear regression analysis (I) and multivariate logistic regression analysis (III, IV). Study II was of qualitative descriptive design, based on 28 interviews with parents living in shared physical custody with their children. The qualitative study was analysed with inductive latent content analysis.</p><p>Study I showed that lower levels of SHC and higher levels of SWB were associated with higher degrees of social capital in the family, school and neighbourhood. Social capital in family, school and neighbourhood had a cumulative influence on children’s SHC and SWB. In study II the participating parents described their own as well as the perceptions of their children and former partners. Parents’ perceptions changed from the beginning of shared physical custody, through the current situation, ending with perception of the future. The fifteen year old boys and girls (III) living in shared physical custody were more at risk of being a smoker or having been drunk compared with children living in two parent families. The results of sex <15 years and conduct problems showed that the risks didn’t differ significantly between these two groups. Study IV showed that children living in shared physical custody with their parents were more likely than children in two parent families to report multiple SHC, and low SWB. The variable of communication did not moderate the SHC and SWB of the children in any of these two groups.</p><p>This thesis contribute with new and deeper understanding of the relatively new phenomenon: shared physical custody, and its associations to children’s mental health. The parent’s perceptions were an important complement to the children’s self reported health. In order to influence the decreasing mental health among children and adolescents, their opinions contributes to further understanding. Narratives from children, parents and practitioners are required in order to further study the association between children’s health outcomes and different family arrangements. Additional studies are needed to clarify how children’s mental health and different family arrangements are related to school, community economy, and society.</p>Fri, 23 Aug 2013 12:44:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19759Mohammad Anzar AlamOnline optical method for real-time surface measurement using line-of-light triangulation http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20449 <p>Real time paper surface-web measurement is one of the challenging research fields. The traditional laboratory method has many limitations and is unable to measure the entire tambour during the manufacturing process. It has been necessary to develop an online technique that could measure the surface topography in real time. An optical technique was developed, based on laser triangulation, and is applied to develop a new prototype device, which characterizes high speed paper-web surfaces over a wide scale of spatial wavelengths spectrum and computes the surface roughness in real time. The used multi channel pulsed laser diode, source of illumination onto the paper-web, is of benefit due to its low coherence length and is capable to deliver a powerful burst of light beam over a 1 µs duration, which delivers energy of 100 µJ per pulse. The short exposure time avoids blurriness in the acquired images which could possible due to the high speed and vibrations on the paper-web.</p><p>The laser beam is shaped into a narrow line-of-light using cylindrical lenses and is projected onto a paper-web surface, which covers a physical length of about 210 mm. The created line-of-light cross section full width at half maximum, FWHM Gaussian distribution, is 2-3 pixels on the image. The line-of-light is projected onto the paper-web perpendicular to the plane of the surface. The low angled, low specular, reduced coherence length, scattered reflected laser line is captured by the 3 CCD sensors, which are synchronized with the laser source. The low specular light ensures to avoid saturation of the imaging sensors if the surface is very smooth, and obliquely captures the z-directional fine feature of the surface.</p><p>The scattered phenomenon of the reflected light is responsible for the surface irregularity measurements. The basic image processing algorithm is applied in order to remove noise and cropped the images widthwise so that only pixels above a preset threshold gray level can be processed, which enables efficient real time measurement. The image is transformed into a 1D array using the center of gravity, COG. The accuracy and precision of the COG depends on the line-of-light FWHM, which, in turn, is responsible for the accuracy, noise and the resolution of the developed technique. The image subpixel resolution achieved is 0.01 times a pixel and uuncertainty in the raw data is 0.43 µm while it is 0.05 µm in the rms roughness.</p><p>The signal processing steps combining the B-Spline filter and the filter in the spatial frequency domain were employed in order to separate roughness, waviness, and form and position error in the raw profile. The prototype is designed to measure online surface roughness and to characterize surface in a spatial wavelength spectrum from 0.09 to 30 mm, which is extendable to any required spatial range in order to cover a wide scale surface feature such as micro roughness, macro roughness and waviness. It is proven that exploitation of a simple laser triangulation technique could lead to an improvement in the overall quality and efficiency in the paper and paperboard industries and it can also be of potential interest for the other surface characterization problems.</p>Fri, 6 Dec 2013 09:23:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20449Khursheed KhursheedInvestigation of intelligence partitioning and data reduction in wireless visual sensor network http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20976 Wed, 8 Jan 2014 10:43:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20976Anette KarlssonImproved hydrogene peroxide bleaching of mechanical pulps through fundamental understanding of the influence of heat, iron, fines and chemical treatment on chromophore content http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20982 Wed, 8 Jan 2014 14:38:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20982Magnus IsraelssonInternationella komparativa studier av lagar om tvångsvård vid missbruk : -omfattning, trender och mänskliga rättigheter http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20883 <p>The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights state that everyone has the right to good health. According to the conventions, the states have obligations to prevent and combat disease, and if necessary, ensure that the conditions for treatment of the disease are appropriate (UDHR 1948, UNCESCR 1966). The broad wording in the conventions on the right to good health includes the right to care of substance use disorders. In the 1960ies the World Health Organization recommended, that people with such disorders should be seen as sick and that the legislation governing such care should be in accordance with special administrative legislations and not criminal legislation. The recommendation indicates WHO:s clear position that persons with substance use disorders primarily should be treated as persons suffering from disease and in need of care, and not primarily as disruptive individuals or criminals who should be disciplined or punished. This applies also to situations when treatment and care cannot be provided on a voluntary basis, but compulsorily. In Swedish context, the most commonly mentioned law in these cases is the social special legislation <em>Law</em> (1988: 870) <em>on care of misusers, special provisions</em> (LVM). Ever since the implementation of LVM in 1982, its legal position as well as application in institutional care has been subject of critical discussions within social work as well as in social science research. Such debate in the Nordic countries has until now mostly been marked by two important limitations. First, most comparisons are restricted to very few countries, e.g. four of the Nordic countries; secondly the notion of involuntary care is often limited to social legislation on compulsory care without taking criminal justice legislation or mental health legislation into account. The present dissertation studies legislations on compulsory commitment to care of persons with substance use problems (CCC), and compares these legislations from a larger number of countries, on global or European levels. This approach makes it possible to explore the great variation in CCC legislation between countries, i.e. type of law (criminal justice, mental health care and social or special legislation), time limits (maximum duration) as well as levels of ambition, ethical grounds, criteria for admission, and adaption to human and civil rights. In addition, the comparisons between many countries are used to investigate factors related to different national choices in legislations from country characteristics, e.g. historical and cultural background as well as economic and social conditions, including level and type of welfare distribution. Available datasets from different times permits trend analyses to investigate whether CCC or specific types of such are increasing or decreasing internationally.</p><p> Empirical materials: Article I is based on three reports from the WHO on existence of CCC legislation, before the millennium shift, in 90 countries and territories in all populated continents. Articles II and IV are based on own data collection from a survey in 38 European countries. Article III uses a combination of those data and additional information from country reports in scientific and institutional publications in three times of observation during more than 25 years, and including a total of 104 countries. Additional data for Articles I and II are information on various countries' characteristics obtained from different international databases.</p><p> Findings based on data from WHO reports at the eve of the millennium show that CCC legislation was very common in the world, since 82 per cent of the 90 countries and territories had such law. Special administrative (“civil”) legislation (mental health or social) was somewhat more prevalent (56 %), but CCC in criminal justice legislation was also frequent and present in half of the countries. The study shows that economically stronger countries in the western world and many of the former communist countries in Eastern Europe, the so-called "first and second worlds" in cold war rhetoric, more often had adapted to the recommendations made by WHO in the 1960ies, with CCC more often regulated in civil legislation. In the so-called "third world" countries, CCC in criminal justice legislation dominated. The new data collection from 38 European countries ten years later confirmed that legislation on CCC is very common, since 74 per cent of the explored countries have some type of legislation. The most common type was now CCC in criminal legislation (45%), although special administrative legislation (mental health or social) was almost equally common (37%). Special administrative legislation on CCC (both acute and rehabilitative), was more common in countries with historic experience of a strong influential temperance movement, and in countries with distribution of health and welfare more directed through the state, while countries with less direct government involvement in distribution of health and welfare and lacking former influence of a strong temperance movement more often had CCC in criminal justice legislation. During all the 25 years period from early 80ies up to 2009, it was more common for countries to have some type of law on CCC than not, although some reduction of CCC legislation is shown, especially during the last decade. But within countries having CCC, more cases are compulsorily committed and for longer time duration. This is related to a global shift from civil CCC to CCC in criminal justice legislation, directly in the opposite direction from what WHO recommended in the 60ies. Changes in CCC legislation are often preceded with national political debate on ethical considerations, and criticisms questioning the efficiency and content of the care provided. Such national debates are frequent with all types of CCC legislation, but ethical considerations seem to be far more common related to special administrative (civil) legislation. National legislations on CCC within Europe should conform to the human and civil rights stipulated in ECHR (1950). There seems, to be some limitations in the procedural rules that should protect persons with misuse or dependence problems from unlawful detentions, regardless type of law. The three types of law differ significantly in terms of criteria for CCC, i.e. the situations in which care may be ensured regardless of consent. <strong></strong></p><p><strong> </strong>Conclusions: It is more common that societies have legislation on CCC, than not. This applies internationally – in all parts of the world as well as over time, for a period of 25 years, at least. Sweden’s legislative position is not internationally unique; on the contrary, it is quite common. Law on CCC tend to be introduced in times of drug epidemics or when drug-related problems are increasing in a society. Changes in CCC legislation are often preceded by national debates on ethics, content and benefits of such care. These findings here discussed may reflect different concurrent processes. A shift from welfare logic to a moral logic may be understood as more moralization, perhaps due to relative awaking of traditionalism related to religious movements in various parts of the world (Christian, Hindu, Muslim or other). But it may also be understood from more libertarianism that stresses both individual responsibility for one’s welfare and the state´s responsibility to discipline behaviours that inflict negatively on the lives of others. Possibly do these two tendencies work in conjunction to one another. At the same time, however, there is a stronger emphasis on care content <em>within</em> <em>criminal justice CCC</em>, especially in the Anglo-Saxon drug court system. Some shift <em>within Civil CCC</em> is also noticed, i.e. from social to mental health legislation. Thus drug abuse and dependence is increasingly more recognized and managed in the same way as other diseases, i.e. an increased normalization. Since social CCC has been more in focus of research and debates, this may also result in CCC turning into a more hidden praxis, which from ethical perspectives is problematic. The thesis shows that there are examples of focus on humanity and care in all three of the law types, but there are also examples of passive care, sometimes even inhumane and repressive, in all types. Thus, type of law cannot be said to in general correspond to a specific content of care. Although CCC can be delivered in accordance with human and civil rights, there is still a dissatisfying situation concerning the procedural rights that should ensure the misuser his/her rights to freedom from unlawful detention. The possibility to appeal to a higher instance is missing in about 20 percent of European CCC laws, although not differentiating one type of legislation from the others. A clear difference between the three law types concerns criteria that form the basis for who will be provided care according to the laws. This is of major importance for which persons of the needy who will receive care: addicted offenders, out-acting persons or the most vulnerable. The criteria for selecting these relate to the implicit ambitions of CCC – correction, protection, or for support to those in greatest need for care. The question is what ambition a society should have concerning care without consent in case of substance abuse and addiction problems. The trend that CCC according to special administrative legislation is declining and criminal legislation increases in the world should therefore be noticed.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Keywords: Alcohol, drugs, substance misuse, coercive care, compulsory commitment to care, involuntary care, mandatory care, legislation, human and civil rights, comparative analysis, prediction models, and trend analysis</p>Fri, 27 Dec 2013 12:12:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20883Bahareh EslamiThe Psychosocial Situation of Adults with Congenital Heart Disease in Iran http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20877 <p>Background and objectives:Adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) are a new group of patients with a prevalence of 4 per 1000. They have evolved as a result of significant improvements in medical management during the past decades. However, adults with CHD experience various medical and social challenges that may influence their psychosocial functioning. Providing appropriate medical, rehabilitation and social care for adults with CHD, and indeed improving their well-being require the evaluation of their current psychosocial situation. This thesis aims to increase the understanding of the mental health, somatic symptoms, social support, style of coping, quality of life and life satisfaction of adults with CHD and to examine the possible contributing factors in the context of a developing country; issues not addressed in the current literature.Methods:This thesis is based on four studies. Study I recruited 347 consecutive CHD patients (18-64 years) from two heart hospitals in Tehran, Iran. The study iscross-sectional and focused on sex differences in socio-economic status, lifestyle and medical characteristics of adults with CHD. Studies II, III and IV havea cross-sectional case-control design comparing the aforementioned CHD patients with 353 non-CHD participants, matched by sex and age. Outcome variables were anxiety, depressive and somatic symptoms (Study II), styles of coping (Study III), and life satisfaction/quality of life (Study IV). The data were analysed with bivariate and multivariate methods. Multivariate linear regression analyses were performed to scrutinize the association of demographic/socio-economic variables, social support, mental health, and medical variables with the aforementioned outcome variables among adults with CHD (Studies II, III, IV). Results:Study I showed that women with CHD were more often married and had children and were less often employed, but had healthier behaviour compared to men. Even though most of the patients received regular medical viiicare from different typesof medical professionals, half of them had no knowledge about the type of their cardiac defect. Study II showed that CHD patients experienced more anxiety and somatic symptoms than the healthy controls, whereas there were no differences in depressive symptoms. Perceived financial strain, lower social support and low annual income were positively associated with worse outcome in mental health and somatic symptoms. None of the medical variables were related to anxiety, depressive and somatic symptoms. Study III showed that the styles of coping of the CHD patients were comparable to those of the control group and CHD per se was not associated with a certain style of coping, except for palliative reaction pattern. Problem-focused styles of coping were associated with being never married, parenthood, higher level of anxiety and somatic symptoms, lower level of depressive symptoms and higher social support. Emotion-focused styles of coping were associated with annual income and higher level of anxiety. None of theadopted coping strategies were related to the heart disease variables. Study IV showed that adults with CHD had poorer quality of life and lower life satisfaction than the control group. However, CHD was associated only with decreased overall quality of life and its physical health domain, and life and health satisfaction. Among CHD patients, higher quality of life was associated with female sex, younger age, employment status, having less emotional distress and higher social support, while life satisfaction was associated with female sex, being employed, less emotional distress and higher social support. Conclusions:The results support the notion that psychosocial factors contribute to the well-being of adults with CHD.Socio-economic factors, emotional health and social support are significant determinants in nearly all outcomes of interest which need to be considered by health care providers and policy makers in their efforts to improve the health ofadults with CHD. However, longitudinal studies are warranted to establish causal linksand qualitative studies are recommended to deepen the understanding of coping and quality of life.</p>Fri, 20 Dec 2013 13:55:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20877Abdul MajidAnalysis and EMI suppression of MHz frequency range switch mode power supplies http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21019 Mon, 13 Jan 2014 08:39:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21019Naeem AhmadModelling, optimization and design of visual sensor networks for sky surveillance http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21022 Mon, 13 Jan 2014 10:01:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-21022Magnus NeumanApplied problems and computational methods in radiative transfer http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19776 <p>Light scattering in turbid media is essential for such diverse applications as paperand print, computer rendering, optical tomography, astrophysics and remote sensing.This thesis investigates angular variations of light reflected from plane-parallelturbid media using both mathematical models and reflectance measurements, dealswith several applications and proposes novel computational methods for solving thegoverning equations.Angular variations of light reflected from plane-parallel turbid media is studiedusing both mathematical models and reflectance measurements. It is found that thelight is reflected anisotropically from all media encountered in practice, and that theangular variations depend on the medium absorption and transmittance and on theangular distribution of the incident light. If near-surface bulk scattering dominates,as in strongly absorbing or highly transmitting media or obliquely illuminated media,relatively more light is reflected in large polar (grazing) angles. These results areconfirmed by measurements using a set of paper samples. The only situation withisotropic reflectance is when a non-transmitting, non-absorbing medium is illuminateddiffusely, and it is shown that this is the only situation where the widely usedKubelka-Munk model is exactly valid.A number of applied problems is studied, including reflectance measurements,angle resolved color and point spreading. It is seen that differences in instrumentdetection and illumination geometry can result in measurement differences. The differencesare small and if other sources of error — such as fluorescence and gloss— are not eliminated, the differences related to instrument geometry become difficultto discern. Furthermore, the dependence of point spreading in turbid mediaon the medium parameters is studied. The asymmetry factor is varied while maintainingconstant the optical response in a standardized measurement geometry. It isseen that the point spreading increases as forward scattering becomes more dominant,and that the effect is larger if the medium is low-absorbing with large meanfree path. It is argued that the directional inhomogeneity of the scattering mediummust be captured by the model to reproduce experimental results. Finally, the angleresolved color of a set of paper samples is assessed both theoretically and experimentally.The chroma decreases and the lightness increases as the observation polarangle increases. The observed differences are clearly large, and a modification ofthe L∗a∗b∗ formalism including angle dependent chromatic adaptation is suggestedhere to handle this situation.</p><p>The long standing issue of parameter dependence in the Kubelka-Munk modelis partially explained by recognizing that light reflected from paper samples in standardizedmeasurements has angular variations, and by using the appropriatemodelin the calculation of the scattering and absorption coefficients.The radiative transfer (RT) equation is solved with a recently proposed particlemethod (DFPM), both in standard cases and in cases previously considered intractable.Fluorescence is added to the RT equation, thus including wavelength asan additional dimension, and this equation is solved using DFPM. The discrete RTequation can be written as a system of linear equations, and a comprehensive analysisof the convergence properties of DFPM when solving this type of problems ispresented.</p>Mon, 16 Sep 2013 10:34:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19776Hari Babu KotteHigh Frequency (MHz) Resonant Converters using GaN HEMTs and Novel Planar Transformer Technology http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20894 <p>The increased power consumption and power density demands of modern</p><p>technologies have increased the technical requirements of DC/DC and AC/DC power</p><p>supplies. In this regard, the primary objective of the power supply researcher/engineer</p><p>is to build energy efficient, high power density converters by reducing the losses and</p><p>increasing the switching frequency of converters respectively. Operating the converter</p><p>circuits at higher switching frequencies reduces the size of the passive components</p><p>such as transformers, inductors, and capacitors, which results in a compact size,</p><p>weight, and increased power density of the converter. Therefore, the thesis work is</p><p>focussed on the design, analysis and evaluation of isolated converters operating in the</p><p>1 - 5MHz frequency region with the assistance of the latest semi conductor devices,</p><p>both coreless and core based planar power transformers designed in Mid Sweden</p><p>University and which are suitable for consumer applications of varying power levels</p><p>ranging from 1 – 60W.</p><p>In high frequency converter circuits, since the MOSFET gate driver plays a prominent</p><p>role, different commercially available MOSFET gate drivers were evaluated in the</p><p>frequency range of 1 - 5MHz in terms of gate drive power consumption, rise/fall times</p><p>and electromagnetic interference (EMI) and a suitable driver was proposed.</p><p>Initially, the research was focused on the design and evaluation of a quasi resonant</p><p>flyback converter using a multilayered coreless PCB step down transformer in the</p><p>frequency range of 2.7 – 4MHz up to the power level of 10W. The energy efficiency of</p><p>this converter is found to be 72 - 84% under zero voltage switching conditions (ZVS).</p><p>In order to further improve the energy efficiency of the converter in the MHz</p><p>frequency region, the new material device GaN HEMT was considered. The</p><p>comparisons were made on a quasi resonant flyback DC-DC converter using both the</p><p>Si and GaN technology and it was found that an energy efficiency improvement of 8 –</p><p>10% was obtained with the GaN device in the frequency range of 3.2 – 5MHz. In order</p><p>to minimize the gate drive power consumption, switching losses and to increase the</p><p>frequency of the converter in some applications such as laptop adapters, set top box</p><p>(STB) etc., a cascode flyback converter using a low voltage GaN HEMT and a high</p><p>voltage Si MOSFET was designed and evaluated using a multi-layered coreless PCB</p><p>transformer in the MHz frequency region. Both the simulation and experimental</p><p>results have shown that, with the assistance of the cascode flyback converter, the</p><p>switching speeds of the converter can be increased with the benefit of obtaining a</p><p>significant improvement in the energy efficiency as compared to that for the single</p><p>switch flyback converter.</p><p>In order to further maximize the utilization of the transformer, to reduce the voltage</p><p>stress on MOSFETs and to obtain the maximum power density from the converter</p><p>circuit, double ended topologies were considered. Due to the lack of high voltage high</p><p>side gate drivers in the MHz frequency region, a gate drive circuitry utilizing the</p><p>multi-layered coreless PCB signal transformer was designed and evaluated in both a</p><p>half-bridge and series resonant converter (SRC). It was found that the gate drive power</p><p>consumption using this transformer was around 0.66W for the frequency range of 1.5 -</p><p>v</p><p>3.75 MHz. In addition, by using this gate drive circuitry, the maximum energy</p><p>efficiency of the SRC using multilayered coreless PCB power transformer was found to</p><p>be 86.5% with an output power of 36.5W in the switching frequency range of 2 –</p><p>3MHz.</p><p>In order to further enhance the energy efficiency of the converter to more than 90%,</p><p>investigations were carried out by using the multiresonant converter topology (LCC</p><p>and LLC), novel hybrid core high frequency planar power transformer and the GaN</p><p>HEMTs. The simulated and experimental results of the designed LCC resonant</p><p>converter show that it is feasible to obtain higher energy efficiency isolated DC/DC</p><p>converters in the MHz frequency region. The peak energy efficiency of the LCC</p><p>converter at 3.5MHz is reported to be 92% using synchronous rectification. Different</p><p>modulation techniques were implemented to regulate the converter for both line and</p><p>load variations using a digital controller.</p><p>In order to realize an AC/DC converter suitable for a laptop adapter application,</p><p>consideration was given to the low line of the universal input voltage range due to the</p><p>GaN switch limitation. The energy efficiency of the regulated converter operating in</p><p>the frequency range of 2.8 – 3.5MHz is reported to be more than 90% with a load</p><p>power of 45W and an output voltage of 22V</p><p></p><p>dc. In order to determine an efficient power</p><p>processing method on the secondary side of the converter, a comparison was made</p><p>between diode rectification and synchronous rectification and optimal rectification was</p><p>proposed for the converters operating in the MHz frequency range for a given power</p><p>transfer application. In order to maintain high energy efficiency for a wide load range</p><p>and to maintain the narrow switching frequency range for the given input voltage</p><p>specifications, the LLC resonant converter has been designed and evaluated for the</p><p>adapter application. From the observed results, the energy efficiency of the LLC</p><p>resonant converter is maintained at a high level for a wide load range as compared to</p><p>that for the LCC resonant converter.</p><p>Investigations were also carried out on isolated class E resonant DC-DC converter with</p><p>the assistance of GaN HEMT and a high performance planar power transformer at the</p><p>switching frequency of 5MHz. The simulated energy efficiency of the converter for the</p><p>output power level of 16W is obtained as 88.5% which makes it feasible to utilize the</p><p>designed isolated converter for various applications that require light weight and low</p><p>profile converters.</p><p>In conclusion, the research in this dissertation has addressed various issues related to</p><p>high frequency isolated converters and has proposed solution by designing highly</p><p>energy efficient converters to meet the current industrial trends by using coreless and</p><p>core based planar transformer technologies along with the assistance of GaN HEMTs.</p><p>With the provided solution, in the near future, it is feasible to realize low profile, high</p><p>power density DC/DC and AC/DC converters operating in MHz frequency region</p><p>suitable for various applications.</p>Fri, 27 Dec 2013 12:28:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20894Jawad SaleemPower electronics for - and modelling of - resistance welding equipment http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20947 Thu, 2 Jan 2014 15:48:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20947Karin WalterThe use of Fenton chemistry for reducing the refining energy during TMP production : the effect of free ferrous and free or chelated ferric ions http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20737 <p>The potential of using acid hydrogen peroxide under Fenton conditions to lowerthe electrical energy consumed during the production of Black spruce (Piceamariana) thermomechanical pulp (TMP) was investigated in pilot scale. Thechemical system, which consisted of ferrous sulphate, hydrogen peroxide andoptionally an enhancer (such as a chelating agent), was evaluated as an inter-stagetreatment. The produced TMPs were thoroughly characterised in order to explainthe effect of the chemical system on fibre development and to be able to propose amechanism for the impact on refining energy reduction. The possibility to improvethe optical properties by washing, chelating and sodium dithionite or hydrogenperoxide bleaching the treated pulps was evaluated. The system of lignocellulosicmaterial, a Norway spruce (Picea abies) TMP, and Fenton chemistry was alsoevaluated in a model study to understand more about how conditions such as e.g.initial pH, dissolved organic material and reaction time affect the reactions.Ferrous and ferric ions (free and chelated) and different anions were evaluated.Moreover, it was examined whether hydroxyl radicals could be detected andmonitored.The results obtained in pilot scale showed that it is possible to significantly reducethe specific energy consumption by approximately 20% and 35% at a freenessvalue of 100 ml CSF or a tensile index of 45 Nm/g by using 1% and 2% hydrogenperoxide respectively. The energy reduction was obtained without any substantialchange to the fractional composition of the pulp, although tear strength wasslightly reduced, as were brightness and pulp yield. No major differences betweenthe reference pulp and the chemically treated pulps were found with respect tofibre length, width or cross-sectional dimensions. However, the acid hydrogenperoxide-treated pulps tended to have more collapsed fibres, higher flexibility, alarger specific surface area and a lower coarseness value. The yield lossiiiaccompanying the treatment was mainly a consequence of degradedhemicelluloses. It was also found that the total charge of the chemically treatedpulps was higher compared to the reference pulps; something that may haveinfluenced the softening behaviour of the fibre wall.A washing or chelating procedure could significantly reduce the metal ion contentof the chemically treated TMPs. The amount of iron could be further reduced to alevel similar to that of untreated pulps by performing a reducing agent-assistedchelating stage with dithionite. The discoloration could not, however, becompletely eliminated. The brightness decrease of the treated pulps was thereforenot only caused by the greater iron content in the pulp, but was also dependent onthe type of iron compound and/or other coloured compounds connected with theacid hydrogen peroxide treatment. Oxidative bleaching using hydrogen peroxidewas more effective than reductive bleaching using sodium dithionite in regainingthe brightness that was lost during the energy reductive treatment.From the model study and by using a chemiluminescence method, it could beconcluded that hydroxyl radicals were present in the system of Fenton chemicalsand lignocellulosic material (TMP). Initial pH, retention time, pulp consistency,type of catalyst (free or chelated) and dissolved organic material had an impact onthe reactions between TMP and acid hydrogen peroxide. Different anions(sulphate, nitrate and chloride) of ferric ion salt gave a similar catalytic effect.There appeared to be more reactions with the TMP when there was less dissolvedorganic material in the liquid phase from the start. A catalyst of ferrous sulphatehad a greater impact on the pulp (increased total fibre charge and carbonyl groups,more dissolved organic material in filtrate) than ferric ions chelated withethylenediaminetetraacetic acid at an initial pH of about 3-7. If using ferric-EDG(ethanol diglycinic acid) as catalyst, the measured effect on the pulp was similar orless compared to using ferrous sulphate. Ferric-EDG, however, gave higherhydrogen peroxide consumption and more detectable hydroxyl radicals than usingferrous sulphate (initial pH 5-8). It is likely that the iron catalyst must bind to theTMP, or be in close proximity to it, for the hydroxyl radicals to be able to react withthe material.A mechanism was proposed: the hydroxyl radicals generated in the Fentonreaction will probably attack and oxidise the available outer fibre surfaces,weakening these layers, and simultaneously dissolve some of the organic material.This can facilitate fibre development, give a better bonding pulp and reduce theelectrical energy required during refining.</p>Mon, 16 Dec 2013 16:36:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-20737Sara NyhlénRegionalpolitik i förändring : en fallstudie av regionalpolitikens aktörer och former i Åre kommun http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18338 <p>Regional politics is changing; it is transforming from being mainly a responsibility of the central state to a concern that is more for the regional or local governments. At the same time, there are signs of a transformation of the political system in general. The development indicates a decreasing hierarchy as the power of the state is challenged and the political agents are increasing in number. This indicates that the political agents are changing but there are also indications that the political forms are transforming. The politics is increasingly characterised by project and process politics, networks, cooperation and partnerships. This transformation is generally described as the transformation “from government to governance”. New governance is one of the most frequently discussed issues in contemporary political science literature, and this has led to a wide variety of conceptualizations. Considering the changing regional politics and general changes as the political forms and agents, this thesis studies who governs the regional politics and how regional politics is governed.The purpose of this thesis is to provide empirical contributions in order to increase the understanding of changes in regional politics at the local level. This is done by dividing governance modes into typologies. Four political processes at the local level in the municipality of Åre between the years 1973-2007 are analyzed. The thesis is based on qualitative semi-structured elite interviews. The informants have been selected by snowball sampling. The interviews have also been complemented by documentary studies. The documents that have been studied are the protocols from the municipal assembly from 1973, when the municipality was created, to2007. The documents also consist of the parish archives (sockenkrönikor) governmental reports and official documents of the local and state-level government. The material has been analyzed by using process tracing.The main results of the study are that there have been changes in the regional politics at the local level in relation to the political agents and the forms of politics. The 1970s were characterized by strong state power and hierarchy. The political processes have increasingly been characterized by the typology of the new governance. The study has shown that in practice the regional politics in Åre is characterized by both traditional governance and new governance at the same time there has not been a paradigmatic shift. The elements of new governance are increasing but there are still significant signs of the traditional bureaucratic system such as hierarchy and ordered rule. As the signs of new governance increase, the political entrepreneurs play a bigger role in the processes being analyzed. The study also shows that the critique of traditional forms of governance relating to participation and influence has not become irrelevant as the signs of new governance increases.</p>Wed, 23 Jan 2013 13:25:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18338Aud Moe”Jeg vil leve til jeg dør” : Livslyst hos hjemmeboende kronisk sykeeldste eldre http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18318 <p>One challenge in the Western world is the risk of functional impairmentand chronic disease accompanying older age. In Norway it is expected thatmost chronically ill older persons will continue to live at home and receivehelp from home nursing care. The inner strength of the oldest old, as seenin relation to the help that is given, and whether the help has contributed tostrengthen the will to live has been explored only to a limited extent.Meaning in life and daily routines can be related to the will to live,understood as enjoying life and having the courage to live. The aim of thisstudy is to develop knowledge in regard to chronically ill oldest olderpersons and the possibilities and limitations in their will to live when theyreceive help from home nursing care.This study uses the quantitative method (n=120, Article 1 and Article 2) todescribe the characteristics of inner strength using the questionnairesResilience Scale, Sense of Coherence Scale, Purpose in Life Test, and Self-Transcendence Scale. Inner strength was seen in relation to mental andphysical health using the questionnaire SF-36. The qualitative method wasused to illuminate how the oldest older persons experienced living at homewith chronic illness (n=13, Article 3) and receiving help from home nursingcare (n=11, Article 4). The participants in this study were 80 years old orolder, living at home with chronic illnesses, and receiving help from homenursing care. All participants were determined to have the mental capacityto take part in this study.The analysis showed in Article 1 that the oldest old had an inner strengthexpressed as ”sense of coherence” and ”purpose in life.” Their innerstrength was accompanied by the ability for self-transcendence. Mentalhealth was predicted by self-transcendence (p < 0.001) for the total sampleand for women. Physical health was predicted by self-transcendence (p <0.01) for the total sample. Low resilience contributed to vulnerability for theparticipants. They were vulnerable in terms of limited perseverance, selfreliance,and existential aloneness (Article 2). On the contrary, theyexperienced equanimity and meaning. Meaning in daily life (Article 3)sometimes meant feelings of insufficiency and dependency. In contrast,they also experienced joy in life, gratitude for living at home, and aneagerness to participate in activities that made them feel alive. Theyexperienced both good and bad days, which depended on their illness butwas also based on how their needs for help and support were met. InviiArticle 4, receiving help indicated different experiences. Being ill anddependent on help led to days with illness, treatment, and receiving care. Italso indicated they were in need of professional help. Receiving help couldmean being at the mercy of helpers, which could imply unworthy help, asthey had no influence on the help they got from incompetent nurses whofocused only on tasks, with limited flexibility in their work, using theirhomes as a working place. This situation of receiving help from busynurses caused the old person to feel inferior as a human being. Other timesit meant receiving help from nurses who took care with respect to the oldperson and confirmed him or her as a human being. The older personswanted to be seen, met, and supported to strengthen their courage to meetthe challenges of being old and ill.According to the ethics of caring, human beings are vulnerable andmutually dependent on each other. This influences the possibilities andlimitations of ”the other” in experiencing a will to live. ”Receiving theother” can contribute to the will to live, influenced by the help received inan asymmetric dependency in which the nurses are caught in the tensionbetween suffering and the will to live for the oldest older person in need ofhelp. In this tension, the will to live is dependent on help that is given in arelationship characterized by caring and responsibility for the other.</p>Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:27:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-18318Oduor OlandeStudents' narratives from graphical artefacts : Exploring the use of mathematics tools and forms of expression in students' graphicacy http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19710 Mon, 26 Aug 2013 10:13:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-19710Margareta JohanssonBecoming a father : Sources of information, birth preference, and experiences of childbirth and postnatal care http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-15161 <p>The period of pregnancy and childbirth is an important and sensitive time for men’s upcoming parenthood. Research into fathers’ experiences of childbearing has received less attention compared to maternal experiences. The purpose of this thesis was to study the sources fathers use to obtain information about pregnancy and childbirth, fathers’ preference for the mode of birth of their baby, and fathers’ childbirth experience and their perception of postnatal care quality.In 2007, 1105 expectant fathers were enrolled in the study when their partner had reached the middle of pregnancy. The fathers were followed until one year after the birth of their baby. The fathers were living in the county of Västernorrland in Sweden and their babies were born in one of the three hospitals in the county. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, and content analysis. An index was created from a combination of fathers’ experiences of postnatal care quality.iiiCommon sources of information about pregnancy and childbirth used by prospective fathers were the Internet, their partners and the midwife. Fathers who were expecting their first baby (OR 1.4; 1.2-1.7), had a high level of education (OR 1.3; 1.2-1.5) and fathers with previous experience of caesarean section (OR 1.3; 1.1-1.6) were the greatest users of the Internet. Of the prospective fathers 71 (6.4%) desired caesarean section for the birth of their baby. Previous negative birth experience (PR 8.6; 2.6-28.3) and the experience of caesarean section (PR 5.7; 2.8-11.9) were factors associated with the wish that the baby would be born by caesarean section. A desire to plan the day of the baby’s birth (PR 6.0; 1.5-24.1) was associated with a preference for caesarean section for the men who were expecting their first baby. Two months after the birth of the baby 604 (74%) of the fathers in this group had had a positive birth experience. A correlation with a less-positive birth experience was with emergency caesarean section (OR 7.5; 4.1-13.6), instrumental vaginal birth (OR 4.2; 2.3-8.0) and if the man was unhappy with the medical care which the partner received (OR; 4.6; 2.7-7.8). Positive experience of healthcare professionals’ knowledge and attitudes was related to a satisfactory birth experience. The deficiencies in the postnatal care were mainly related to deficiencies in the information on the baby’s care and needs, and fathers’ experiences of their partners’ inadequate check-ups and medical care. A year after the birth 488 (79%) of the fathers were satisfied with the overall postnatal care, although they had pointed to deficiencies in the provision. Deficiencies in the attitude of the staff (OR 5.01; 2.80-8.98) and the medical care and check-ups their partner received were associated with fathers’ dissatisfaction with the overall postnatal care (OR 2.13; 1.25-3.62).ivMost fathers in this study had a positive birth experience and were happy with the postnatal care. The thesis highlights, however, opportunities for improvements in intrapartum and postnatal care. Healthcare professionals should be informed regarding the information provided via the web and to discuss the information that expectant fathers receive about pregnancy and childbirth. Prospective fathers should be given the opportunity to discuss their preferences and attitudes to the mode of birth. In addition, professionals should provide supportive information and be present in the delivery room. The information about the newborn baby’s care and needs can be strengthened, both before and after birth.</p>Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:29:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-15161Johanna ThomténPain among women : Prospective population studies from a biopsychosocial perspective on pain http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16065 <p>This thesis focuses on the role of different psychosocial factors in the course of pain over time in a general population sample of women in Sweden. The main aim was to identify and quantify such factors as predictors of pain, pain-related disability and quality of life within a biopsychosocial framework for the understanding of the pain experience over time. The studies were based on baseline (BL) and follow-up (FU) measures with 12 months apart among 2,300 women living in Sweden, and included physical and psychological health and socio-economic status.</p><p>Study I investigated associations between socio-economic status (SES) at baseline and pain and pain-related disability at follow-up, and additionally a possible mediating role of depressive symptoms in such associations. The results indicated that educational level, financial strain and occupational level were associated with pain over time. Symptoms of depression were related to all pain-and SES factors, and might be understood as a mediating factor within this context. The results of Study II showed a link between symptoms of burnout at baseline and several pain-locations. Additionally, among women with pain, the characteristics of the pain experience and pain-related disability were associated with level of burnout over time. Study III focused on the sub sample of women reporting pain at follow-up, and examined possible predictors of their perceptions of quality of life (QOL). Several psychosocial factors were associated with QOL, and seemed to be more important predictors than the characteristics of pain in terms of intensity and frequency. These factors were burnout, emotional distress, and social support. Study IV was an attempt to sum up the results of the previous studies by analysing predictors of the <em>course of pain</em>, i.e. by comparing women that developed pain from BL to FU with those that remained pain-free and to compare women with sustained pain with those who recovered from pain during the assessment period. These analyses showed symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTSD) to be associated with reporting emerging pain, while pain variables, educational level and social support were related to sustained pain.</p><p>The results of the four studies in this thesis indicate that psychosocial factors and their interplay with the characteristics of pain can be identified and described in a female sample, with a broad definition of pain, and that these factors play a central role in the experience of pain and its impact on the everyday life of these women. There may be several possible paths leading to the development of persistent pain among women and the identification of risk factors is complicated by never-ending interactions between biological, psychological and social processes. At an early stage, prior to pain development, several risk factors may cluster together (e.g. SES, depression), and work as indicators of, e.g. dysfunctional coping in relation to pain. In the first contact with health care and among primary care personnel the identification of such indicators is crucial so as to find women at risk for prolonged pain conditions. General indicators might then be more easily distinguishable than certain individual behaviour characteristics widely accepted as risk factors for pain and disability (e.g. fear-avoidance). To spread the knowledge of general factors in the first line of health care is therefore of great importance in preventive work.</p><p>Finally, the results demonstrated that many women report pain with characteristics that to a great extent affect their lives and through interactions with psychological and social health might have grave consequences for perceptions of quality of life. <strong></strong></p><p> </p>Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:25:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16065Gireesh NairImplementation of energy efficiency measures in Swedish single-family houses http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-15841 <p>Energy efficiency improvements in the residential sector have manybenefits, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy security,creating jobs and improving living conditions. There is a large potential to improveenergy efficiency in existing Swedish residential buildings. Many of the energyefficiency measures that can be implemented in buildings may be cost effective.However, the successful implementation of efficiency measures depends onmultiple factors, including the attitudes and perceptions of the relevant actors. Insingle‐family houses the homeowners are important actor in the diffusion ofenergy efficiency measures as they are the final decision makers regarding whetherto adopt such measures. An adopter‐centric approach was used to studyhomeowners’ adoption and intention to adopt energy efficiency measures. Twomail‐in questionnaire surveys of owners of single‐family houses were conducted;one was a national survey, and the other was sent to selected households in twocounties that had installed energy‐efficient windows. The government fundedchange agents and private actors like sellers/installers could influencehomeowners’ adoption decisions. Accordingly, a survey of municipality energyadvisers across Sweden and window sellers/installers in Jämtland County wasconducted to understand their perception and attitude towards energy efficiencymeasures.The results show that the majority of homeowners considered it importantto reduce their household energy use, with most of them preferred to undertakeno‐cost measures (e.g., switching off lights). The majority of respondinghomeowners (70–90%) did not intend to improve their building envelopecomponents mainly because they were satisfied with their existing components.Investment costs and annual energy cost savings were the most importantfactors in the adoption of energy‐efficient building envelope measures.Homeowners who considered their energy costs to be high were more likely toadopt an energy efficiency investment measure compared to those who thoughttheir energy costs were low. Though the majority of homeowners did not considertheir energy cost as high still they considered it important to reduce householdenergy cost. Therefore, economic incentives may induce homeowners to adoptsuch measures. Increasing the energy price may induce more homeowners toadopt energy efficiency measures as the higher energy price may further improvethe cost effectiveness of such measures. However, majority of homeowners did notconsider energy and CO2 taxes as effective policy instruments that encourage themto adopt energy efficiency measures.iiHomeowners considered interpersonal sources, builders, sellers andinstallers to be important sources of information regarding the adoption of energyefficiency measures. Energy advice service could be an important policy tool topromote energy efficiency, but about 50% of the homeowners are unaware of thisservice. Only 14% of homeowners had consulted an energy adviser out of which57% (i.e. 8% to total respondents) had implemented the suggestions. Hence, moreefforts are needed to increase awareness and effectiveness of energy advice service.The majority of municipal energy advisers were of the opinion that increasedfinancial support and more training in technical aspects of energy issues couldimprove their performance.Actors close to homeowners in the supply chain, such as sellers andinstallers, could play an important role in homeowners’ adoption of energyefficiency measures. Approximately 97% of responding homeowners who receiveda recommendation about particular windows from a seller/installer had installedthe recommended windows. The window sellers/installers in Jämtland prefer awindow that is reasonably energy efficient. The majority will not recommend awindow with a U‐value of < 1.2 W/m2K mainly because they were concerned aboutcondensation issues and about the high prices of such windows. Approximately80% of homeowners who availed themselves of the investment subsidy installedwindows with a U‐value of 1.2 W/m2K. Like the window sellers/installers,homeowners cited condensation issues and high prices as reasons for not buyingmore energy‐efficient windows. This finding suggests that windowsellers/installers have strong influence in homeowners’ choice of windows.Therefore to increase the adoption rate of more energy‐efficient windows inexisting single‐family houses, it may be necessary to address windowsellers’/installers’ concerns about these windows.</p>Fri, 3 Feb 2012 14:15:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-15841Jenny K M ZimmermanNoble Crayfish (Astacus astacus) in a Changing World : Implications for Management http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16313 <p>The noble crayfish (<em>Astacus astacus</em>) is critically endangered in Sweden. This is mainly due to the crayfish plague (<em>Aphanomyces astaci</em>), a lethal disease that, among other things, can be spread through the stocking of fish from contaminated water or contaminated fishing gear. The largest single propagation path is the illegal introduction of infected signal crayfish (<em>Pacifastacus leniusculus</em>). A conservation measure for crayfish is to re-introduce it to where it has a chance to survive, though a sustainable, locally regulated fishing can also serve as an indirect protection for the species. When the local inhabitants are allowed to keep their fishing culture and when fishing is acceptable, the incentive for illegal stocking of signal crayfish is low. However, it is important to avoid overfishing because the recovery, especially in the northern regions, can take several years. Therefore, it is important to know how crayfish respond long-term to fishing and environmental factors.</p><p>Crayfish populations became extinct in the River Ljungan for unknown reasons in 1999. The water flow of the river has been used for activities such as fishing, timber transport and hydroelectric power since the 1500s, and the noble crayfish has been part of the fauna since the last century. The River Ljungan was known as one of Sweden's best fishing areas for crayfish and fishing became an important part of the local tradition. When the crayfish populations became extinct, a reintroduction program was a natural step, and crayfish are nowadays re-established in the river.</p><p>From 1963 to 1990 the Swedish Board of Fisheries collected data from crayfish fishing in the River Ljungan to determine the economic damage to fishery owners caused by the construction of a power plant. After each season the fishermen reported the catch. In this thesis, the data was used to investigate which factors influence the long-term size of the crayfish catch and how the crayfish catches were affected by the power plant building. After re-introduction of the crayfish to the River Ljungan, the local fishermen monitored the population development in a simple, standardized way. To examine the validity of their measurements and to investigate the body growth of the individuals, a capture-recapture technique with a permanent marking of the crayfish was used.</p><p>The crayfish catches were primarily impacted by the previous years' catch size, and a large catch the previous year resulted in a reduced catch the following year. A mild winter climate (NAO-index > -0.7) six years before the catch implied a large catch, whereas a high water flow during the autumn or spring (>95m<sup>3</sup>s<sup>-1</sup>) two years before the catch, implied a poor catch. Major habitat changes in the form of greatly reduced water flow (~90%) were negative for crayfish catches. The standardized method of fishing used by the local fishermen to monitor the development of the crayfish population was precise enough to detect population trends and this method can therefore be recommended to monitor future re-introductions of crayfish. Although the River Ljungan is located at the northern edge of the species' range, noble crayfish in the river presently have a body growth rate that is close to the maximum measured for crayfish (8 mm/moult for females and 10 mm/moult for males).</p><p>Based on the results, the most important advice for sustainable fisheries in Ljungan and other northern rivers is to:</p><ul><li>Monitor the population trends, NAO-index and water flow in May and October. </li><li>Use the results from the monitoring to determine the number of allowed fishing days and traps.</li><li>Collect data about the catch size and efforts from legal fishing and use it to evaluate the sustainability of the fishing.</li><li>Enhance the buildup of the harvestable cohort by</li></ul><p>-saving reproductive females</p><p>-introduce a size limit of 10 cm</p><p>-provide proper shelters for the non-harvestable cohort.</p>Mon, 28 May 2012 10:28:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16313Winnie WongA Hybrid Pixel Detector ASIC with Energy Binning for Real-Time, Spectroscopic Dose Measurements http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16171 <p>Hybrid pixel detectors have been demonstrated to provide excellent quality detection of ionising photon radiation, particularly in X-ray imaging. Recently, there has been interest in developing a hybrid pixel detector specifically for photon dosimetry. This thesis is on the design, implementation, and preliminary characterisation of the Dosepix readout chip.</p><p>Dosepix has 256 square pixels of 220 mm side-length, constituting 12.4 mm<sup>2</sup> of photo-sensitive area per detector. The combination of multiple pixels provides many parallel processors with limited input flux, resulting in a radiation dose monitor which can continuously record data and provide a real-time report on personal dose equivalent. Energy measurements are obtained by measuring the time over threshold of each photon and a state machine in the pixel sorts the detected photon event into appropriate energy bins. Each pixel contains 16 digital thresholds with 16 registers to store the associated energy bins. Preliminary measurements of Dosepix chips bump bonded to silicon sensors show very promising results. The pixel has a frontend noise of 120 e<sup>-</sup>. In low power mode, each chip consumes 15 mW, permitting its use in a portable, battery-powered system. Direct time over threshold output from the hybrid pixel detector assembly reveal distinctive photo-peaks correctly identifying the nature of incident photons, and verification measurements indicate that the pixel binning state machines accurately categorise charge spectra. Personal dose equivalent reconstruction using this data has a flat response for a large range of photon energies and personal dose equivalent rates.</p>Thu, 7 Jun 2012 15:20:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16171Jens PerssonSelected Topics in Homogenization http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16230 <p>The main focus of the present thesis is on the homogenization of some selected elliptic and parabolic problems. More precisely, we homogenize: non-periodic linear elliptic problems in two dimensions exhibiting a homothetic scaling property; two types of evolution-multiscale linear parabolic problems, one having two spatial and two temporal microscopic scales where the latter ones are given in terms of a two-parameter family, and one having two spatial and three temporal microscopic scales that are fixed power functions; and, finally, evolution-multiscale monotone parabolic problems with one spatial and an arbitrary number of temporal microscopic scales that are not restricted to be given in terms of power functions. In order to achieve homogenization results for these problems we study and enrich the theory of two-scale convergence and its kins. In particular the concept of very weak two-scale convergence and generalizations is developed, and we study an application of this convergence mode where it is employed to detect scales of heterogeneity.</p>Wed, 23 May 2012 08:46:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16230Ulrika ErikssonBarns självrapporterade hälsa : Betydelsen av socialt kapital i skolan och närområdet http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-15887 Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:51:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-15887Carina HallqvistPassion for Participation : The Importance of Creating Support for Motivation http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-15993 <p>This thesis provides a study of an open source software project that focuses on the software development of an e-service in a municipal context. The focus is on environmental factors that either limit or promote the motivation to participate in the open source project, the “Parent-Teacher Meeting” project, a web-based communication and information channel whose purpose is to enhance the contacts between schools and parents. The empirical context is situated at the point where traditional information systems (IS) development meets new perspectives regarding organizational structures and boundaries and, as such, provides example of ongoing cross-organizational activities that break current local organizational standards. The objective of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of motivational factors for participation and adopts a sociocultural view on the topic motivation to participate.</p><p>The empirical material was collected through interviews, conversations, and meetings. Being a subproject (i.e. an initiative to develop an open source software application) within a triple helix project I found an extensive number of stakeholders. The choice was made to focus on the application development; thereby a central group of participants within the development project team was found and these became the focus within the study. Moreover, I have, in this thesis, chosen to conduct a contextual description of the participants and the course of events that lead to the start of the project of study. This has been done so as to present the context, which is the focus for this study, to the reader and to be able to use these descriptions within the analysis.</p><p>I have, methodologically, approached the problem from a descriptive angle with an interpretative character using a qualitative case study design. Within the thesis, the means by which the case study has been conducted is presented; i.e. the decision regarding research focus, design, and my role as researcher. In relation to the data collection, the main source has been semi-structured interviews, which is consistent with an interpretive case study character and in which my intent is to highlight conditions and events that are important to both groups within the development team.</p><p>To support the investigation of those factors that can explain and assist with the interpretation of my empirical data, my description and interpretations are built on a theoretical framework based on concepts from IS theories and theories relating to human motivation. The framework, self-determination theory (SDT), is used as a lens to direct the focus onto the situated conditions that influence how individuals experience their participation within the software development project. Given the theoretical basis of an analytical comparison of ideal types of software development constructs, together with influences from motivational theories, the analytical framework used for collecting occurrences of motivational behavior and sociocultural conditions has been constructed.</p><p>After the findings and my interpretation of them with the assistance of my analytical framework have been presented, a discussion and conclusions are then detailed. The conclusions of the study are argued as being relevant as an explanation for the understanding of intrinsic and internalized extrinsic motivation to participate in a hybrid open source projects. The study contributes to our understanding of some of the challenges that are to be considered when putting together and managing systems or software development processes. In this way, the study may provide some basis for improving and meeting new demands regarding how development is adopted in a mixed scenario and this provides valuable knowledge to both practice and IS research.</p>Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:56:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-15993Christina DahlströmQuantitative microscopy of coating uniformity http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16454 <p>Print quality demands for coated papers are steadily growing, and achieving coating uniformity is crucial for high image sharpness, colour fidelity, and print uniformity. Coating uniformity may be divided into two scales: coating thickness uniformity and coating microstructure uniformity, the latter of which includes pigment, pore and binder distributions within the coating layer. This thesis concerns the investigation of both types of coating uniformity by using an approach of quantitative microscopy.First, coating thickness uniformity was analysed by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of paper cross sections, and the relationships between local coating thickness variations and the variations of underlying base sheet structures were determined. Special attention was given to the effect of length scales on the coating thickness vs. base sheet structure relationships.The experimental results showed that coating thickness had a strong correlation with surface height (profile) of base sheet at a small length scale. However, at a large length scale, it was mass density of base sheet (formation) that had the strongest correlation with coating thickness. This result explains well the discrepancies found in the literature for the relationship between coating thickness variation and base sheet structure variations. The total variance of coating thickness, however, was dominated by the surface height variation in the small scale, which explained around 50% of the variation. Autocorrelation analyses were further performed for the same data set. The autocorrelation functions showed a close resemblance of the one for a random shot process with a correlation length in the order of fibre width. All these results suggest that coating thickness variations are the result of random deposition of particles with the correlation length determined by the base sheet surface textures, such as fibre width.In order to obtain fundamental understandings of the random deposition processes on a rough surface, such as in paper, a generic particle deposition model was developed, and systematic analyses were performed for the effects of particle size, coat weight (average number of particles), levelling, and system size on coating thickness variation. The results showed that coating thickness variation3grows with coat weight, but beyond a certain coat weight, it reaches a plateau value. A scaling analysis yielded a universal relationship between coating thickness variation and the above mentioned variables. The correlation length of coating thickness was found to be determined by average coat weight and the state of underlying surfaces. For a rough surface at relatively low coat weight, the correlation length was typically in the range of fibre width, as was also observed experimentally.Non-uniformities within the coating layer, such as porosity variations and binder distributions, are investigated by using a newly developed method: field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) in combination with argon ion beam milling technique. The combination of these two techniques produced extremely high quality images with very few artefacts, which are particularly suited for quantitative analyses of coating structures. A new evaluation method was also developed by using marker-controlled watershed segmentation (MCWS) of the secondary electron images (SEI).The high resolution imaging revealed that binder enrichment, a long disputed subject in the area, is present in a thin layer of a 500 nm thickness both at the coating surface and at the base sheet/coating interface. It was also found that the binders almost exclusively fill up the small pores, whereas the larger pores are mainly empty or depleted of binder.</p>Fri, 15 Jun 2012 08:36:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16454Hanna WiklundLattice Boltzmann simulations of two-phased flow in fibre network systems http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16475 <p>Two-phase flow in microfluidic systems is of great interest for many scientificand engineering problems. Especially in the pulp and paper area, the problems spanfrom fibre-fibre interactions in the consolidation process of papermaking to edgewickingin paper board during the aseptic treatment of liquid packaging.The objective of this thesis is to gain a fundamental understanding of the microfluidicmechanisms that play a significant role in various problems of two-phaseflow in fibre networks. To achieve this objective a new method for the treatment ofwetting boundary conditions in the lattice Boltzmann model has been developed.The model was validated and compared with the previous treatments of wettingboundary conditions, by using two test cases: droplet spreading and capillary intrusion.The new wetting boundary condition was shown to give more accurate resultsfor a wider range of contact angles than previous methods, and capillary intrusioncould be simulated with higher accuracy even at a relatively low resolution.As an application of the developed method, two examples of two-phase flowproblems in fibre networks are taken: the shear resistance of liquid bridges, as relatedto the wet web strength, and liquid penetration into porous structures, as related toedge-wicking in paper board. The shear resistance force was shown to depend verylittle on surface tension and contact angle. Instead, the shear resistance is a dynamicforce and a major contributing factor is the distortion of the flow field caused bythe presence of interfaces. This distortion of the flow field is size-dependent: thesmaller the bridge, the larger the proportion of the distorted flow field and thus alarger shear resistance force per unit width. In other words, multiple small bridgeshave an enhancement effect on shear resistance. The results from the simulations ofliquid penetration into porous structures showed that the discontinuities in the solidsurfacecurvature, as are present in the formof corners on the capillary surfaces, havestrong influences on liquid penetration through their pinning effects and also theirinteractions with local geometry. The microtopography can therefore, accelerate,decelerate and, in some cases, even stop the liquid penetration into random porousmedia.</p>Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:20:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16475Torbjörn von KroghUnderstanding Media Accountability : Media Accountability in Relation to Media Criticism and Media Governance in Sweden 1940-2010 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16679 <p>The concepts of media accountability, media criticism and media governance are analysed and discussed in a Swedish setting; how they relate to each other and interact. This is achieved by using various methods – a survey to editors, analy- ses of parliamentary debates, interviews, direct observation and document stu- dies – in studying different stakeholders, media representatives and governance conditions in Sweden during the last 70 years.</p><p>The findings point in a direction of dynamic complexities with a central role for media criticism. The type, level and intensity of media criticism may affect the functioning of the media governance structure and is a vital part of the media accountability process. The media governance structure – which in addi- tion to media criticism is influenced by international conditions, technological developments and political factors – may in turn affect the media accountability process. In this process, media representatives aim to defend obtained positions of societal influence, achieve and maintain positive PR and enhance editorial quality at the same time.</p><p>Media criticism may start a substantial media accountability process if the discontent is widespread and not countered by market approval or political iner- tia. The process is facilitated if the critique is connected to more than one frame of accountability and if stakeholders see opportunities for dual objectives. Very strong and widespread media criticism may be difficult for media organizations to neglect.</p><p>The accountability process in Sweden has become less dependent on corpora- tive negotiations between organized interests and political assemblies. Instead, two other tendencies seem to have emerged: on the one hand a possibility for media organizations to favour such accountability processes that they are able to control, and on the other hand the rise of a rich variety of sometimes short-lived accountability instruments that may develop for specific occasions and are difficult to control.</p>Tue, 14 Aug 2012 10:27:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16679Liv Heidi SkotnesForstyrrelser i de nedre urinveier hos gamle på sykehejm : urininkontinens, residualurin, urinveisinfeksjon, samt inkontinenspleie http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16337 <p>Det overordnede målet med denne avhandling var å få en oversikt over ulike forstyrrelser i de nedre urinveier hos gamle. Dernest var målet å beskrive oppfatninger og barrierer som influerte på personalets muligheter for å gi riktig inkontinenspleie til beboere i sykehjem. Avhandlingen består av en kvantitativ studie (artikkel I, II, III), og en kvalitativ studie (artikkel IV). Artikkel I var en tverrsnittstudie. Artikkel II og III var en prospektiv tidsdesignstudie med en oppfølgingsperiode på ett år. 183 beboere fra seks sykehjem deltok i den kvantitative studien. I artikkel I ble prevalensen av urininkontinens hos norske sykehjembeboere evaluert. I tillegg ble det forsøkt å identifisere faktorer som var assosiert med urininkontinens i denne populasjonen. I artikkel II ble det undersøkt om residualurin var en risiko for å utvikle urinveisinfeksjon hos gamle på sykehjem. I artikkel III ble det undersøkt om bleiebruk per døgn er en pålitelig metode for å kvantifisere urininkontinens hos sykehjemsbeboere. Det ble også studert om det var sammenheng mellom urinveisinfeksjon, bleiebruk per døgn og væskeinntak. I den kvalitative studien var målet å identifisere oppfatninger og barrierer som influerte på pleiernes muligheter for å gi riktig inkontinenspleie. Fem avdelingsledere, fem sykepleiere og fem hjelpepleiere ble intervjuet i til sammen tre fokusgruppeintervjuer.Analysen i artikkel I viste at 122 beboere (69 %) var inkontinent for urin og 144 (83 %) brukte bleier. 14 % brukte bleier for sikkerhets skyld. Lav ADL-skår, demens og urinveisinfeksjon var assosiert med urininkontinens (P = <0.01). I artikkel II hadde 98 beboere (63.3 %) residualurin mindre enn 100 ml, og 52 (34.7 %) hadde residualurin på 100 ml eller større. I løpet av oppfølgingsperioden hadde 51 beboere (34 %) utviklet en eller flere urinveisinfeksjoner. Forekomsten av urinveisinfeksjon var høyere hos kvinnene enn hos mennene (40.4 % versus 19.6 %; P = 0.02). Det ble ikke funnet noen signifikant forskjell i gjennomsnittlig residualurin mellom beboere som utviklet og som ikke utviklet urinveisinfeksjon (79 versus 97 ml, P = 0.26). Residualurin på 100 ml eller større var ikke assosiert med større risiko for utvikling av urinveisinfeksjon.I artikkel III brukte 118 (77 %) av beboerne bleier. Bleiebruk per døgn er et upålitelig mål på urininkontinens hos beboere i sykehjem. Beboere som brukte bleier hadde en økende risiko for å utvikle urinveisinfeksjon sammenlignet medvibeboere som ikke brukte bleier (41 versus 11 %; P = 0.001). Daglig væskeinntak var ikke assosiert med urinveisinfeksjoner (P = 0.46). Antall bleieskift viste ingen korrelasjon med risikoen for utvikling av urinveisinfeksjon (P = 0.62). Bleiene som beboerne brukte per døgn, viste stor variasjon i inkontinensvolum. I den kvalitative studien ledet innholdsanalysen fram til tre emner og åtte kategorier. Det første emnet, Oppfatninger og barrierer assosiert med beboerne, inneholdt en kategori ”fysiske og kognitive problemer”. Det andre emnet, Oppfatninger og barrierer assosiert med personalet, inneholdt tre kategorier: ”manglende kunnskaper”, ”holdninger og tro” og ”manglende tilgjengelighet”. Det tredje emnet, Oppfatninger og barrierer assosiert med den organisatoriske kulturen, inneholdt fire kategorier: ”rigide rutiner”, manglende ressurser”, ”manglede dokumentasjon” og ”svakt lederskap”. Resultatene i denne avhandlingen viser at forekomsten av urininkontinens i sykehjem er høy. Absorberende produkter er hyppig brukt uten en kjent historie av urininkontinens. Fysisk svekkelse, demens og urinveisinfeksjon er assosiert med urininkontinens. Residualurin er vanlig hos beboere i sykehjem. Det ble ikke funnet noen sammenheng mellom residualurin og urinveisinfeksjon. Bruk av absorberende bleier er assosiert med økt risiko for utvikling av urinveisinfeksjon. Bleiebruk per døgn og væskeinntak var ikke korrelert med økt risiko for utvikling av urinveisinfeksjon. Bleiebruk per døgn er et upålitelig mål på urininkontinens hos beboere i sykehjem. Funnene fra den kvalitative studien viser at det er mange barrierer som influerer på personalets evne til å gi riktig inkontinenspleie til beboere i sykehjem. Det kan likevel se ut som om personalets oppfatninger og holdninger, samt manglende kunnskaper om urininkontinens, er de viktigste barrierene for å gi riktig inkontinenspleie.</p>Fri, 1 Jun 2012 10:00:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16337Mats AinegrenRoller skis' rolling resistance and grip characteristics : influences on physiological and performance measures in cross-country skiers http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16446 <p>The aim of this thesis was to investigate roller ski characteristics; classical and freestyle roller skis’ rolling resistance coefficients (μR) and classical style roller skis’ static friction coefficients (μS), and to study the influence of different μR and μS on cross-country skiers’ performance and both physiological and biomechanical indices. The aim was also to study differences in skiing economy and efficiency between recreational skiers, female and male junior and senior elite cross-country skiers.The experiments showed that during a time period of 30 minutes of rolling on a treadmill (warm-up), μR decreased significantly (p<0.05) to about 60-65 % and 70-75 % of its initial value for freestyle and classical roller skis respectively. Also, there was a significant influence of normal force on μR, while different velocities and inclinations of the treadmill only resulted in small changes in μR.The study of the influence on physiological variables of a ~50 % change in μR showed that during submaximal steady rate exercise, external power, oxygen uptake, heart rate and blood lactate were significantly changed, while there were non-significant or only small changes to cycle rate, cycle length and ratings of perceived exertion. Incremental maximal tests showed that time to exhaustion was significantly changed and this occurred without a change in maximal power, maximal oxygen uptake, maximal heart rate and blood lactate, and that the influence on ratings of perceived exertion was non-significant or small.The study of classical style roller skis μS showed values that were five to eight times more than the values of μS reported from on-snow skiing with grip-waxed cross-country skis.The subsequent physiological and biomechanical experiments with different μS showed a significantly lower skiing economy (~14 % higher v̇O2), higher heart rate, lower propulsive forces coming from the legs and shorter time to exhaustion (~30 %) when using a different type of roller ski with a μS similar to on-snow skiing, while there was no difference between tests when using different pairs of roller skis with a (similar) higher μS.The part of the thesis which focused on skiing economy and efficiency as a function of skill, age and gender, showed that the elite cross-country skiers had better skiing economy and higher gross efficiency (5-18 %) compared with the recreational skiers, and the senior elite had better economy and higher efficiency (4-5 %) than their junior counterparts, while no differences could be found between the genders.</p>Thu, 14 Jun 2012 11:32:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-16446Ludovic Gustafsson CoppelWhiteness and Fluorescence in Layered Paper and Board : Perception and Optical Modelling http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-17782 <p>This thesis is about modelling and predicting the perceived whiteness of plain paper from the paper composition, including fluorescent whitening agents. This involves psychophysical modelling of perceived whiteness from measurable light reflectance properties, and physical modelling of light scattering and fluorescence from the paper composition.</p><p>Existing models are first tested and improvements are suggested and evaluated. A colour appearance model including simultaneous contrast effects (CIECAM02-m2), earlier tested on coloured surfaces, is successfully applied to perceived whiteness. An extension of the Kubelka-Munk light scattering model including fluorescence for turbid media of finite thickness is successfully tested for the first time on real papers. It is extended to layered constructions with different layer optical properties and modified to enable parameter estimation with conventional d/0° spectrophotometers used in the paper industry. Lateral light scattering is studied to enable simulating the spatially resolved radiance factor from layered constructions, and angle-resolved radiance factor simulations are performed to study angular variation of whiteness.</p><p>It is shown that the linear CIE whiteness equation fails to predict the perceived whiteness of highly white papers with distinct bluish tint. This equation is applicable only in a defined region of the colour space, a condition that is shown to be not fulfilled by many commercial office papers, although they appear white to most observers. The proposed non-linear whiteness equations give to these papers a whiteness value that correlates with their perceived whiteness, while application of the CIE whiteness equation outside its region of validity overestimates perceived whiteness.</p><p>It is shown that the fluorescence efficiency of FWA is essentially dependent only on the ability of the FWA to absorb light in its absorption band. Increased FWA concentration leads accordingly to increased whiteness. However, since FWA absorbs light in the violet-blue region of the electromagnetic spectrum, the reflectance factor decreases in that region with increasing FWA amount. This violet-blue absorption tends to give a greener shade to the paper and explains most of the observed greening and whiteness saturation at larger FWA concentrations. A red-ward shift of the quantum efficiency is observed with increasing FWA concentration, but this is shown to have a negligible effect on the whiteness value. The results are directly applicable to industrial applications for better instrumental measurement of whiteness and thereby optimising the use of FWA with the goal to improve the perceived whiteness.</p>Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:36:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-17782Heidi CarlerbyHealth and Social Determinants Among Boys and Girls in Sweden : Focusing on Parental Background http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-17247 <p>The majority of Swedish boys and girls have good psychosomatic health. Despite that the risk of mental health problems such as nervousness, feeling low and sleeping difficulties has increased steadily in recent decades. Moreover, previous surveys on health and well-being indicate that boys and girls of foreign extraction in Sweden are at increased risk of ill health compared to boys and girls of Swedish background.</p><p> </p><p>The main aim of this thesis was to analyse health and social determinants among boys and girls of foreign extraction in Sweden. The factors explored in papers I–IV include parental background, family affluence and gender and their associations with subjective health complaints, psychosomatic problems or health risk behaviours. Other included risk factors for ill health were involvement in bullying, low participation and discrimination at school. This thesis takes an intersectional perspective, with ambitions to be able to emphasize the interplay between different power relations (i.e. gender, social class and parental background).</p><p> </p><p>Two sets of cross-sectional data were used. Three papers were based on the Swedish part of the World Health Organization’s Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children. The sample consisted of 11,972 children (boys n = 6054; girls n = 5918) in grades five, seven and nine from the measurement years 1997/98, 2001/02 and 2005/06. The response rate varied between 85 and 90%. About one fifth of the included children were of foreign extraction. For the fourth paper regional data from Northern Sweden were used. Boys (n = 729) and girls (n = 798) in grades six to nine answered a questionnaire in 2011 and the response rate was 80%. About 14% of the included children were of foreign extraction. Statistical methods used were chi-square test, correlation analyses, logistic regression analyses, cluster analyses and test of mediating factor.</p><p> </p><p>The results showed that girls of foreign background were at increased risk of subjective health complaints (SHC) and boys of mixed background were at increased risk of psychosomatic problems (PSP). Increased risk of allocation to the cluster profile of multiple risk behaviour was shown in boys and girls of mixed background, in girls of foreign background and in girls of low family affluence. Increased risk of allocation to the cluster profile of inadequate tooth brushing was shown in boys and girls of foreign background and in girls of low family affluence. General risk factors for increased risk of ill health for boys and girls in Sweden were: any form of bullying involvement, low family affluence, low participation and discrimination at school, of which the latter also was a mediating factor for ill health. Living with a single parent was a risk factor for ill health among girls.</p><p> </p><p>The results can function as a basis for developing health promotion programmes at schools that focus on social consequences of foreign extraction, family affluence, participation as well as health risk behaviours and gender.</p>Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:38:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-17247Marie HäggströmAtt organisera en trygg och sammanhållen vårdkedja mellan IVA och allmän vårdavdelning. : En grundad teori om organisation, vård och samarbete i förflyttningsprocessen http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-17092 <p>Det övergripande syftet med avhandlingen var att generera en grundad teori om huvudproblemet i förflyttningsprocessen mellan intensivvårdsavdelningar (IVA) och allmänna vårdavdelningar, det vill säga den vård som ges; före, under och efter det att patienter förflyttats från intensivvård till allmän vårdavdelning. Avhandlingen består av 4 delstudier (I- IV) som ligger till grund för en slutlig övergripande teori. Datainsamling har skett med hjälp av fokusgruppsdiskussioner, individuella intervjuer, observationer samt en enkät. Data inhämtades från tre sjukhus och fyra IVA-avdelningar samt sex allmänna vårdavdelningar. Olika personalgrupper och närstående har varit i fokus beroende på delstudiens syfte. I de olika delstudierna har Grundad Teori (GT) (I, II, III) och mixed method (IV) använts som metod. De fyra delstudierna har slutligen syntetiseras till en övergripande Grundad Teori.</p><p> </p><p>Avhandlingen visar att samspelet kring IVA-patienters förflyttningar påverkas av sjukhusets organisations- och säkerhetskultur och hur vårdkedjan organiserats. Det som upplevdes vara huvudproblemet för de inblandade var att organisera en trygg och sammanhållen vårdkedja mellan IVA och allmän vårdavdelning. Detta inkluderade att på ett patientsäkert sätt överbrygga de olikheter och det glapp som fanns mellan vården och vårdkulturen på den personaltäta, högteknologiska intensivvårdsavdelningen jämfört med vården och den vårdkultur som återfanns på de allmänna vårdavdelningarna. Resultatet i den övergripande teorin visade att ett centralt behov hos såväl personal som hos närstående, är att uppleva kontroll och delaktighet i förflyttningsprocessen (kärnkategori). Detta behov kunde tillgodoses genom att det fanns och delgavs rutiner och strategier för vården före, under och efter förflyttning, att upprätta ett kliniköverskridande samarbete, genom kompetens och kunskap, att resurser fanns och genom att ge en personcentrerad vård. Om personal och närstående upplevde egen kontroll och delaktighet i förflyttningsprocessen bidrog detta till att reducera oro och osäkerhet och till att underlätta samverkan och samordning mellan IVA och allmän vårdavdelning. När den egna kontrollen och delaktigheten däremot uteblev, ökade istället de negativa upplevelserna av ett stort glapp mellan IVA och de allmänna vårdavdelningarna och desto mer negativt framstod skillnaderna vara mellan de olika enheterna och istället uppstod ett revirtänkande och misstro mellan personalgrupperna på de inblandade avdelningarna. </p><p>Det fanns ett behov av ett gott samarbetsklimat samt en god organisations- och säkerhetskultur för en sammanhållen vårdkedja. Utöver detta påverkades också förflyttningprocessen av om avdelningen byggt upp en god lärandemiljö med fungerande teamwork och rutiner och strategier kring patientomflyttningar. För att kunna ge god vård genom vårdkedjan behövdes också resurser. Personalens intentioner var att ge god, personcentrerad vård genom hela processen men de fick oftast balansera dessa intentioner mot bristande resurser och de förutsättningar som gavs, i form av personalbrist, bristande vårdplatser och avsaknad av planering. Vårdkedjan mellan IVA och allmänna vårdavdelningar kräver en organisation och en kultur som främjar individers egen kontroll och delaktighet. Dessutom krävs det planering och strategier som främjar patientsäkerhet, samordning och kontinuitet samt en tydlig nedtrappningsfas av den högteknologiska vården. Resultatet visar vidare att sjuksköterskor och andra i vårdteamet kring den svårt sjuke patienten har en stor pedagogisk utmaning i att kvalitetssäkra informationsflödet och kunskapsöverföringen om vad som skall hända i processen för närstående och för patienter.</p>Fri, 28 Sep 2012 12:44:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-17092Camilla UdoExistential issues in surgical care : Nurses’ experiences and attitudes in caring for patients with cancer http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-17414 <p>The overall aim of this thesis was to explore surgical nurses’ experiences of being confronted with patients’ existential issues when caring for patients with cancer, and to examine whether an educational intervention may support nurses in addressing existential needs when caring for patients with cancer. Previously recorded discussions from supervision sessions with eight healthcare professionals were analysed (I), written descriptions of critical incidents were collected from 10 nurses, and interviews with open questions were conducted (II). An educational intervention on existential issues was pilot tested and is presented in Studies III and IV. The intervention was the basis of a pilot study with the purpose of testing whether the whole design of the educational intervention, including measurements instruments, is appropriate. In Study III and IV interviews with 11 nurses were conducted and 42 nurses were included in the quantitative measurements of four questionnaires, which were distributed and collected. Data was analysed using qualitative secondary analysis (I), hermeneutical analysis (II), and mixed methods using qualitative content analysis and statistical analyses (III-IV). Results in all studies show that existential issues are part of caring at surgical wards. However, although the nurses were aware of them, they found it difficult to acknowledge these issues owing to for example insecurity (I-III), a strict medical focus (II) and/or lacking strategies (I-III) for communicating on these issues. Modest results from the pilot study are reported and suggest beneficial influences of a support in communication on existential issues (III). The results indicate that the educational intervention may enhance nurses’ understanding for the patient’s situation (IV), help them deal with own insecurity and powerlessness in communication (III), and increase the value of caring for severely ill and dying patients (III) in addition to reducing work-related stress (IV). An outcome of all the studies in this thesis was that surgical nurses consider it crucial to have time and opportunity to reflect on caring situations together with colleagues. In addition, descriptions in Studies III and IV show the value of relating reflection to a theory or philosophy in order for attitudes to be brought to awareness and for new strategies to be developed.</p>Thu, 22 Nov 2012 15:22:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-17414Christine HummelgårdNanoscaled Structures of Chlorate Producing Electrodes http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-17206 <p>Sodium chlorate is mainly used for production of chlorine dioxide (a pulp bleaching agent). Sodium chlorate is produced by an electrochemical process where chloride ions (from sodium chloride dissolved in water) are oxidized to chlorine on the anodes and hydrogen is evolved on the cathodes. The anode of this process consists of a metal plate coated with a catalytically active metal oxide film. The electrocatalytic properties of the anode coating film have been widely investigated due to the great importance of these electrodes in the electrochemical industry. The material properties are, however, not as well investigated, and the studies described in this thesis are an attempt to remedy this.</p><p>Several standard material characterization methods were used, such as SEM, TEM, AFM, EDX, XRD, porosimetry and DSC. Also, a novel model system based on spin coated electrode films on smooth substrates was developed. The model system provided a way to design samples suitable for e.g. TEM, where the sample thickness is limited to maximum of 100 nm. This is possible due to the ability to control the film thickness by the spinning velocity when using the spin coating technique.</p><p>It was shown here that the anode coating has a nanostructure. It consists of grains, a few tens of nanometers across. The nanostructure leads to a large effective area and thus provides an explanation of the superior catalytic properties of these coatings. The grains were also shown to be monocrystalline. The size of these grains and its origin was investigated. The calcination temperature, the precursor salt and (if any) doping material all affected the grain size. A higher calcination temperature yielded larger grains and doping with cobalt resulted in smaller grains and therefore a larger real area of the coating. Some preparation conditions also affected the microstructure of the coating; such as substrate roughness. The microstructure is for example the <em>cracked-mud structure</em>. A smoother substrate gave a lower crack density.</p><p>The cathode of chlorate production is usually an uncoated metal plate, therefore 'less catalytically active'. It is, however, possible to activate the cathode by for example in situ additions to the electrolyte. It was shown here that sufficient addition of molybdate to the electrolyte resulted in a molybdenum film deposited on the cathode and thereby an increase of its surface area and an activation the hydrogen evolution reaction.</p>Thu, 18 Oct 2012 10:43:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-17206A Maria GyllePhysiological adaptations in two ecotypes of Fucus vesiculosus and in Fucus radicans with focus on salinity http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13308 <p>The in origin intertidal marine brown alga <em>Fucus vesiculosus</em> L. grow permanently sublittoral in the brackish Bothnian Sea, side by side with the recently discovered <em>F. radicans</em> L. Bergström <em>et</em> L. Kautsky. Environmental conditions like salinity, light and temperature are clearly different between <em>F. vesiculosus</em> growth sites in the Bothnian Sea (4-5 practical salinity units, psu; part of the Baltic Sea) and the tidal Norwegian Sea (34-35 psu; part of the Atlantic Ocean). The general aims of this thesis were to compare physiological aspects between the marine ecotype and the brackish ecotype of <em>F. vesiculosus</em> as well as between the two Bothnian Sea species <em>F. vesiculosus </em>and <em>F. radicans</em>.</p><p>The result in the study indicates a higher number of water soluble organic compounds in the marine ecotype of <em>F. vesiculosus</em> compared to the brackish ecotype. These compounds are suggested to be compatible solutes and be due to an intertidal and sublittoral adaptation, respectively; where the intertidal ecotype needs the compounds as a protection from oxygen radicals produced during high irradiation at low tide. The sublittoral ecotype might have lost the ability to synthesize these compound/compounds due to its habitat adaptation. The mannitol content is also higher in the marine ecotype compared to the brackish ecotype of <em>F. vesiculosus</em> and this is suggested to be due to both higher level of irradiance and higher salinity at the growth site.</p><p>77 K fluorescence emission spectra and immunoblotting of D<sub>1</sub> and PsaA proteins indicate that both ecotypes of <em>F. vesiculosus</em> as well as <em>F. radicans</em> have an uneven ratio of photosystem II/photosystem I (PSII/PSI) with an overweight of PSI. The fluorescence emission spectrum of the Bothnian Sea ecotype of <em>F. vesiculosus</em> however, indicates a larger light-harvesting antenna of PSII compared to the marine ecotype of <em>F. vesiculosus</em> and <em>F. radicans</em>. Distinct differences in 77 K fluorescence emission spectra between the Bothnian Sea ecotype of <em>F. vesiculosus</em><em> </em>and<em> F. radicans</em> confirm that this is a reliable method to use to separate these species.</p><p>The marine ecotype of <em>F. vesiculosus</em> has a higher photosynthetic maximum (P<sub>max</sub>) compared to the brackish ecotype of<em> F. vesiculosus </em>and<em> F. radicans</em> whereas both the brackish species have similar P<sub>max</sub>. A reason for higher P<sub>max </sub>in the marine ecotype of <em>F. vesiculosus</em> compared to <em>F. radicans</em> is the greater relative amount of ribulose-1.5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco). The reason for higher P<sub>max </sub>in marine ecotype of <em>F. vesiculosus</em> compare to the brackish ecotype however<em> </em>is not due to the relative amount of Rubisco and further studies of the rate of CO<sub>2 </sub>fixation by Rubisco is recommended. Treatments of the brackish ecotype of <em>F. vesiculosus </em>in higher salinity than the Bothnian Sea natural water indicate that the most favourable salinity for high P<sub>max</sub> is 10 psu, followed by 20 psu. One part of the explanation to a high P<sub>max</sub> in 10 psu is a greater relative amount of PsaA protein in algae treated in 10 psu. The reason for greater amount of PsaA might be that the algae need to produce more ATP, and are able to have a higher flow of cyclic electron transport around PSI to serve a higher rate of CO<sub>2</sub> fixation by Rubisco. However, studies of the rate of CO<sub>2 </sub>fixation by Rubisco in algae treated in similar salinities as in present study are recommended to confirm this theory.</p><p></p><p> </p>Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:20:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13308Jon NyhlénStyrideal och konflikt : Om friskoleetablering i tre norrländska kommuner http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13313 <p>During the last decades, the public sector in Western democracies has undergone drastic changes. These changes have meant privatization and a more diverse service provision. Because of privatization, activities that were previously reserved for the public sector can now be conducted by the private sector. This has led to the traditional hierarchical model to be challenged by a new governing style throughmarket mechanisms, which was introduced during the 1980s. Both the hierarchical model and market model have since been supplemented by the network model that was introduced in the 1990s. The new organization has meant that steering is currently done in a complex environment with varying outcomes. In the foreground of the theoretical concepts that captures the development describedearlier is governance. The starting point of the governance perspective is that the traditional bureaucracy model for governing is challenged by new forms of organization and steering. In the early 1990s, it became possible, due to a change in legislation, to startindependent schools with public funding. This legislation change has had a major impact on the Swedish school system in terms of organization and steering issues. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the ideals of hierarchy, market andnetworking appear in the municipal steering of the local school system, and how these ideals affect the development and the intensity of the conflicts in the surveyed municipalities. The focus of the empirical study is three municipalities from the northern parts of Sweden, which are equal in terms of population, number of school pupils, the number of independent schools and with the samepolitical majority. The overall result of the thesis is that different governing ideals affect the levels of conflict in different ways. The municipality governed by marked ideals exhibit thehighest degree of conflict and the municipality governed by the network ideal exhibit lower levels of conflict. The municipality governed by the hierarchical ideal in the middle of the conflict scale.</p>Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:17:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13313Gustav LidénFrån demokrati till e-demokrati : En jämförande studie av demokratiutveckling i det moderna samhället http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13466 <p></p><p>This mainly deductive study examines what factors explain the variation of e-democracy and if, why a causal pathway exists. The deductive feature is carried out through examining the predictions of the <em>modernization theory</em>, testing hypotheses concerning the link between economic development and wealth in relation to e-democracy. Deriving from a theoretical point of departure where e-democracy is conceptualized with the help of democratic theory, this phenomenon is studied in three different but linked empirical parts. A cross-sectional global study did establish a relationship between some of the indicators derived from the theory; however, the magnitude of the explanatory power was lower at the level of e-democracy than at the level of democracy. A cross-sectional national study of all Sweden’s municipalities did show that especially high levels of education were clearly related to high levels of e-democracy. Approaching the questions of causal mechanisms and deviations from the found pattern, case studies did emphasize that the linkage between the structural conditions and actor’s-orientated explanations largely could verify what is deducted from theory. However, the importance of economic possibilities and internal prioritizations inside the political organization was essential for the development of e-democracy and was found through more inductive approaches.</p><p>The main contribution of this thesis is the results that, both on an aggregated and a micro level, verify the theory but also add other important explanations. Another important conclusion is the creation of a model for e-democracy where a <em>complete e-democracy</em> is linked to democratic theory and not only maintains information, discussion, and decision-making processes through information and communication technology but also does this while strengthening political participation and political equality.</p>Wed, 6 Apr 2011 08:23:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13466Thomas Persson SlumpiMaking the Systemically Desirable Culturally Feasible : Towards the Integration of Gender-Knowledge into Informatics Study Programs http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13337 <p>This dissertation scrutinizes the problem domain of gender-knowledge integration into Swedish higher education study programs in informatics. This integration has been expressed as desirable by for example the Swedish government, individual universities and university colleges and the student union alike. In Swedish informatics study programs however, gender-knowledge seems to have been integrated to a limited extent and there is a dearth of research in this area as well. This indicates that gender-knowledge has so far only to a limited extent been recognized as important for Swedish informatics study programs. The purposes of this research is to 1) increase the insight of managers and developers of informatics study programs into the potential of gender-knowledge to enrich informatics as a subject; and to 2) inspire commitment and provide a means for the design of informatics study programs in which gender-knowledge is integrated. The overarching research question for this project is: What are the crucial challenges for a successful integration of gender-knowledge into Swedish informatics study programs?</p><p>To address the overarching research question, several studies have been conducted through scrutinizing documents like articles, reports, evaluations and syllabuses, as well as listening to the accounts of experiences of the gender-knowledge integration process communicated by lecturers, PhD students and study program coordinators following a hermeneutic research approach. The results of these studies indicate that the process of integrating gender-knowledge is challenging and that there is a need of support for getting the process up and running. For this, a guide that identifies different important questions to be addressed related to challenge categories like knowledge, organization, pedagogical, and resistance has been developed. The knowledge challenge seems to be particularly challenging hence special attention is paid to the development of a basic theoretical gender-knowledge base that, along with some concrete examples on how the basic theoretical gender-knowledge base, could be integrated into areas of concern for informatics study programs.</p><p>The different types of support suggested above should be considered food for thought and perhaps pointers of where to start looking. After all, only the local informatics community can integrate gender-knowledge into a study program in an enriching way thus making the systemically desirable culturally feasible.</p>Thu, 3 Mar 2011 13:46:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13337Edith AndresenDressed for success : designing and managing regional strategic networks http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13343 <p>Inter-organizational network initiatives such as regional strategic networks (RSNs) are often used by firms and public agencies to support regional development and competitiveness. RSNs are designed networks managed by a hub and financed by public or private means. RSN management is complex as members are autonomous and initially often loosely connected. The effects of RSNs on regional development are disputed as engineered relationship development may interfere with ongoing business relationships. Despite this, vast public funds are being invested in collaborative initiatives. Identifying factors affecting RSN performance will provide a better basis for evaluating and managing such initiatives.</p><p>Based on concepts such as actors, resources, and activities findings are reported from longitudinal case-studies built on interviews with 68 members and hubs in four RSNs. Data were also collected through participant observation, conversations, archival data and emails. Findings indicate that factors such as evaluation criteria, member composition, relationships, location, goals, the hub, physical and human resources, knowledge sharing and development, resources, policies and norms, social activities, and communication exert an impact on entrepreneurship and cooperation.</p><p>The first paper focuses on factors such as actor composition, actor goals, number of actors, and activities facilitating relationship development and commitment. The second paper identifies a framework of seven tasks to be performed by the hub. The effects on development of preferences and atmosphere are dealt with in the third paper. Effects of cooperation between public/private sector and universities are addressed in the fourth paper, and entrepreneurial processes in network contexts are analyzed in the fifth one.</p><p>The important management role of the hub is emphasized as is carefully considered member composition. Relationships and commitment are found to be crucial. These factors are not covered by national and regional performance criteria. They merit a place of their own.</p>Thu, 3 Mar 2011 13:39:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13343Jonas JoelssonOn Swedish bioenergy strategies to reduce CO2 emissions and oil use http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13868 Thu, 9 Jun 2011 15:21:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13868Peng ChengApplications of embedded sensors in loader crane positioning and rotor RPM measurement http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-15710 <p>In this thesis, two novel applications involving embedded sensors arestudied, one dealing with loader crane positioning and the other involving rotorRevolutions Per Minute (RPM) measurement. The thesis presents a generalintroduction to the embedded sensor, its architecture and its use in mechanicalindustry, and provides the reader with an overview of conventional sensortechnologies within the fields of angle sensors and angular speed sensors, coveringtheir working principles, features, advantages and disadvantages and typicalapplications. The particular problems associated with the use of conventionalsensors in both loader crane positioning and rotor RPM measurement aredescribed and these problems provided the motivation for the designs of theembedded sensor systems developed in this thesis.In the case of the loader crane positioning, the origins of the project and thespecial requirements of the application are described in detail. In addition, apreliminary study is conducted in relation to the idea of a contactless joint angularsensor using MEMS inertial sensors in which four different methods, namely, theCommon-Mode-Rejection with Gyro Integration (CMRGI), Common-Mode-Rejection (CMR), Common-Mode-Rejection with Gyro Differentiation (CMRGD)and Distributed Common-Mode-Rejection (DCMR), are conceived, modeled andtested on a custom-designed prototype experimental setup. The results gatheredfrom these four methods are compared and analyzed in order to identify thedifferences in their performances. The methods, which proved to be suitable, arethen further tested using the prototype sensor setup on a loader crane and theperformance results are analyzed in order to make a decision in relation to the twomost suitable methods for the application of the loader crane positioning. Theresults suggested that the two most suitable were the CMRGD and the DCMR. Thepractical design issues relating to this sensor system are highlighted andsuggestions are made in the study. Additionally, possible future work for thisproject is also covered.In the first case for the rotor RPM measurement, the thesis presents themodeling and simulation of the stator-free RPM sensor idea using the Monte Carlomethod, which demonstrated the special features and performance of this sensor.The design aspects of the prototype sensor are described in detail and theprototype is tested on an experimental setup. The conclusions for the stator-freeRPM sensor are then made from the analysis of the experimental results and futurework in relation to this sensor is also proposed.In the second case of the rotor RPM measurement, the thesis presentsanother idea involving the laser mouse RPM sensor and the main focus of thestudy is on the performance characterization of the laser mouse sensor and theverification of the RPM sensor idea. Experiments are conducted using the test setup and results are gathered and analyzed and conclusions are drawn.Possibilities in relation to future work for this laser mouse RPM sensor are alsoprovided.The summary and the conclusion form the final chapter of the thesis andseveral important aspects of the designs relating to both the loader cranepositioning project and the rotor RPM measurement project are discussed.</p>Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:43:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-15710Anneli ÖljarstrandDen mångtydiga församlingen : Organisering, roller och relationer i spänningen mellan sekularisering och desekularisering http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-14383 <p>Parishes of the Church of Sweden work under the influence of a religious and cultural tradition as well as a societal, individual and internal secularization (Chaves 1994). The organization therefore has to react to the requirements of change alongside the need to preserve its distinctive character. The aim of this thesis is to analyze experiences of how a secularized context and internal organizational requirements influence the parishes' organization of structure and activities, the role of the actors and the relations between them. The data consists of two empirical studies. The first study (carried out in 2007) is based on semi-structured interviews with 26 diocese employees at twelve of Church of Sweden's diocese secretariats. The second study (carried out in 2009) is based on semi-structured interviews with vicars and focus group-interviews with members of the faith ministry, employees and volunteers in four different parishes, in total 77 informants. Three different analyses of the material have been carried out.</p><p>The first analysis, guided by new institutional theory, focuses on the <em>parish’s </em><em>organization</em><em> </em>in relation to a secularized context. Results show that the majority of the parishes have accepted a “market adapted organization model” in order to compete on the religious market, or perhaps most importantly, to retain their current members. The study concludes that the major challenge for the Church of Sweden’s parishes today is to find a balance between preserving traditions and adapting the organization to the ambient society's requirements of market adaptation and rationalization, which can result in internal secularization. </p><p>The second analysis is guided by role theory and focuses on <em>the actor´s</em> (vicars, members of the faith ministry, employees and volunteers) different roles in the parishes, in the light of organizational change. Results show how the different roles are affected by the organizational structure as well as by the societal context. The study concludes that a role is not static; instead it is affected by ideas from society, the organization, and other actor’s expectations as well as the actor him/her self. The four investigated roles tend to be more and more complex and, despite role, intra- and inter- role conflicts seems to be common in the parishes.</p><p>The third and last analysis is guided by network analysis and focuses on <em>the relations</em> between the four actor groups. The results show that the actors sometimes have difficulty in separating between formal and informal relations. The relations seem to overlap each other, be multiplex and have more than one content. This can be related to the parish ambiguity as well as the actor´s many different roles within the organization. The thesis concludes with a theoretical discussion there a modifying of the concept internal secularization is proposed.<em> </em><em></em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p>Thu, 25 Aug 2011 12:53:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-14383Lena-Maria ÖbergCreation and maintenance of traceability http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-14508 Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:48:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-14508Rahim RahmaniActive queue management for quality of service in heterogeneous networks : design of active queue management for access routers http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-14511 Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:01:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-14511Tomas UnanderSystem integration of electronic functionality in packaging application http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-14311 <p>Sensor applications are becoming increasingly important as products are now being requested to be more and more intelligent and safe. As the costs involved in sensor technology decrease its usage will spread to new market segments including new areas with products that have never previously used such functionalities, including, wood fibre based products for packaging, hygiene or graphical use. Currently there is a significant interest in developing technology that will allow packages to become interactive and be integrated with digital services accessible on the Internet. In this thesis, the system integration of a hybrid RFID based sensor platform is presented. This proposed platform provides a trade-off between the communication performance and its compatibility with international standards and also includes flexibility in on‐package customization, including the type and number of sensors. In addition it combines the use of traditional silicon based electronics with printed electronics directly onto wood fibre based materials so as to enable the possibility of creating smart packages. Together with the system integration of the sensor platform, five printed moisture sensor concepts that are designed to work with the sensor platform are presented and characterized. Firstly, there is a moisture sensor that shows a good correlation to the moisture content of wood fibre based substrates. The second one involves a sensor that detects high relative humidity levels in the air and the third is an action activated energy cell that provides power when activated by moisture. The fourth one deals with two types of moisture sensors that utilize silver nano-particles in order to measure the relative humidity in the air. The final one is a printable touch sensitive sensor that is sensitive to the moisture contained in the hand. A concept of remote moisture sensing that utilizes ordinary low cost RFID tags has also been presented and characterized.</p><p>The main focus is thus on system integration to, by combining silicon based electronics with printed electronics, find the most low cost solution with regards to flexibility, sensor functions and still meet the communication standards.</p>Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:31:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-14311Anders LarssonAtt vara – tillsammans : Människosyn och medborgarskapsideal i den politiska idéhistorien http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13428 <p>This thesis is focused on two phenomena: normative citizenship ideals and onto-logical notions of man. The study is an inductive search for different attributes to describe a variation of these phenomena. The search is conducted from several different perspectives: Current research within citizenship theory, history in a material sense, the history of political ideas, the philosophy of science and thematic analyses of important aspects of the two phenomena.</p><p>Throughout the thesis attributes are collected and sorted in order to build typologies that can define the variation.</p><p>In the end the attributes of normative citizenship ideals are sorted into three groups. The ideals are explained in three ways: why they came in to existence, how the transition from one ideal to another took place and how the idealistic content of the ideals were transformed.</p><p>The attributes of ontological notions of man are sorted into sex types and four of them are defined to have relevance for an existing variation today.</p><p>Finally the relations between the two typologies are analyzed and ten combinations are found to be possibly useful in studies of contemporary societal contexts.</p><p>Together, the results are contributing to theories of citizenship.</p><p>Apart from the results of the study it is argued for a broader definition of politics in political science, for more specific ways to handle egalitarian questions in the field rights of man / citizenship rights and finally against the possibility of a neutral order, for example a neutral state.</p>Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:51:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13428Åsa AudulvBeing creative and resourceful : Individuals’ abilities and possibilities for self-management of chronic illness http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13512 <p>Individuals’ self-management styles are crucial for how they manage to live with illness. Commonly investigated factors include social support, self-efficacy, health beliefs, and demographics. There is a gap in the literature with regard to in-depth studies of how those factors actually influence an individual’s self-management.</p><p> </p><p>The aim of this thesis was to investigate the underlying mechanisms of self-management from the perspective of individuals living with chronic illness.</p><p> </p><p>Interviews were conducted with 47 individuals with various chronic illnesses, some of them repeatedly over two and a half years (a total of 107 interviews). The material was analysed with; constructive grounded theory, content analysis, phenomenography, and interpretive description.</p><p> </p><p>The Self-management Support Model identified aspects that influenced participants’ self-management: economic and social situation, social support, views and perspectives on illness, attribution of responsibility, and ability to integrate self-management into an overall life situation. For example, individuals with a life-oriented or disease-oriented perspective on illness prioritized different aspects of self-management. People who attributed internal responsibility performed a more complex self-management regimen than individuals who attributed external responsibility. In conclusion, individuals who were creative and resourceful had a better chance of tailoring a self-management regimen that suited them well. People in more disadvantaged positions (e.g., financial strain, limited support, or severe intrusive illness) experienced difficulty in finding a method of self-management that fit their life situation.</p><p> </p><p>These findings can inspire healthcare providers to initiate a reflective dialogue about self-management with their patients.</p>Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:32:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13512Dmitri GorskiATMP Process : Improved Energy Efficiency in TMP Refining Utilizing Selective Wood Disintegration and Targeted Application of Chemicals http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13844 <p>This thesis is focused on the novel wood chip refining process called AdvancedThermomechanical Pulp (ATMP) refining. ATMP consists of mechanical pretreatmentof chips in Impressafiner and Fiberizer prior to first stage refining atincreased intensity. Process chemicals (this study was concentrated on hydrogenperoxide and magnesium hydroxide) are introduced into the first stage refiner.It is known that the use of chemicals in TMP process and first stage refining atelevated intensity can reduce the energy demands of refining. The downside is thatthey also alter the character of the produced pulp. Reductions in fibre length andtear index are usually the consequences of refining at elevated intensity. Additionof chemicals usually leads to reduction of the light scattering coefficient. Usingstatistical methods it was shown that it is possible to maintain the TMP character ofthe pulp using the ATMP process. This is explained by a separation of thedefibration and the fibre development phases in refining. This separation allowsdefibration of chips to fibres and fibre bundles without addition of chemicals orincrease in refining intensity. Chemicals are applied in the fibre developmentphase only (first stage refiner). The energy demand in refining to reach tensileindex of 25 Nm/g was reduced by up to 1.1 MWh/odt (42 %) using the ATMPprocess on Loblolly pine. The energy demand in refining of White spruce, requiredto reach tensile index of 30 Nm/g, was reduced by 0.65 MWh/odt (37%).Characterizations of individual fibre properties, properties of sheets made fromlong fibre fractions and model fibre sheets with different fines fractions werecarried out. It was established that both the process equipment configuration (i.e.the mechanical pre‐treatment and the elevated refining intensity) and the additionof process chemicals in the ATMP process influence fibre properties such as external and internal fibrillation as well as the amount of split fibres. Improvementof these properties translated into improved properties of sheets, made from thelong fibre fractions of the studied pulps. The quality of the fines fraction alsoimproved. However, the mechanisms of improvement in the fines quality seem tobe different for fines, generated using improved process configuration andaddition of process chemicals. The first type of fines contributed to better bondingof model long fibre sheets through the densification of the structure. Fines whichhave been influenced by the addition of the process chemicals seemed in additionto improve bonding between long fibres by enhancing the specific bond strength.The improved fibre and fines properties also translated into better airpermeability and surface roughness of paper sheets, properties which areespecially important for supercalendered (SC) printing paper. The magnitude offibre roughening after moistening was mainly influenced by the processequipment configuration while the addition of process chemicals yielded lowestfinal surface roughness due to the lowest initial surface roughness. There was nodifference in how fines fractions from the studied processes influenced the fibreroughening. However, fines with better bonding yielded model fibre sheets withhigher PPS, probably due to their consolidation around fibre joints. Hence, thedecrease in PPS can probably be attributed to the improvements in the long fibrefraction properties while the improvement of fines quality contributed to thereduction of air permeability.The process chemicals, utilized in the ATMP process (Mg(OH)2 and H2O2) alsoproved to be an effective bleaching system. Comparable increases in brightnesscould be reached using the ATMP process and conventional tower bleaching.Maximum brightness of the pulp was reached after approximately 10 minutes ofhigh‐consistency storage after refining or 40 minutes of conventional bleaching.This study was conducted using a pilot scale refiner system operated as a batchprocess. Most of the experiments were performed using White spruce (Piceaglauca). In Paper I, Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) was used. It is believed that theresults presented in this thesis are valid for other softwood raw materials as well,but this limitation should be considered.</p>Fri, 27 May 2011 13:34:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-13844Ambrose DodooLife cycle primary energy use and carbon emission of residential buildings http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-14942 <p>In this thesis, the primary energy use and carbon emissions of residential buildings are studied using a system analysis methodology with a life cycle perspective. The analysis includes production, operation, retrofitting and end-of-life phases and encompasses the entire natural resource chain. The analysis focuses, in particular, on to the choice of building frame material; the energy savings potential of building thermal mass; the choice of energy supply systems and their interactions with different energy-efficiency measures, including ventilation heat recovery systems; and the effectiveness of current energy-efficiency standards to reduce energy use in buildings. The results show that a wood-frame building has a lower primary energy balance than a concrete-frame alternative. This result is primarily due to the lower <em>production primary energy use and greater bioenergy recovery benefits </em>of wood-frame buildings. Hour-by-hour dynamic modeling of building mass configuration shows that the energy savings due to the benefit of thermal mass are minimal within the Nordic climate but varies with climatic location and the energy efficiency of the building. A concrete-frame building has slightly lower space heating demand than a wood-frame alternative, because of the benefit of thermal mass. However, the production and end-of-life advantages of using wood framing materials outweigh the energy saving benefits of thermal mass with concrete framing materials.</p><p>A system-wide analysis of the implications of different building energy-efficiency standards indicates that improved standards greatly reduce final energy use for heating. Nevertheless, a passive house standard building with electric heating may not perform better than a conventional building with district heating, from a primary energy perspective. Wood-frame passive house buildings with energy-efficient heat supply systems reduce life cycle primary energy use.</p><p>An important complementary strategy to reduce primary energy use in the building sector is energy efficiency improvement of existing buildings, as the rate of addition of new buildings to the building stock is low. <em>Different energy efficiency retrofit measures</em> for buildings are studied, focusing on the energy demand and supply sides, as well as their interactions. The results show that <em>significantly greater life cycle primary energy reduction is achieved when an electric resistance heated building is retrofitted than when a district heated building is retrofitted. </em>F<em>or district heated buildings, t</em>he primary energy savings of energy efficiency measures depend on the characteristics of the heat production system and the type of energy efficiency measures. Ventilation heat recovery (VHR) systems provide low primary energy savings where district heating is based largely on combined heat and power (CHP) production. VHR systems can produce substantial final energy reduction, but the primary energy benefit largely depends on the type of heat supply system, the amount of electricity used for VHR and the airtightness of buildings.</p><p>Wood-framed buildings have substantially lower life cycle carbon emissions than concrete-framed buildings, even if the carbon benefit of post-use concrete management is included. The carbon sequestered by crushed concrete leads to a significant decrease in CO<sub>2</sub> emission. However, CO<sub>2 </sub>emissions from fossil fuels used to crush the concrete significantly reduce the carbon benefits obtained from the increased carbonation due to crushing. Overall, the effect of carbonation of post-use concrete is small. The post-use energy recovery of wood and the recycling of reinforcing steel both provide higher carbon benefits than post-use carbonation.</p><p>In summary, wood buildings with CHP-based district heating are an effective means of reducing primary energy use and carbon emission in the built environment.</p>Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:40:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-14942Joakim BångPurification, Stereoisomeric Analysis and Quantification of Biologically Active Compounds in Extracts from Pine Sawflies, African Butterflies and Orchid Bees http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-14662 <p>Stereochemistry plays an important role in nature because biologically important molecules such as amino acids, nucleotides and sugars, only exist in enantiomerically pure forms. Semiochemicals carry messages, between the same species (pheromones) and between different species (allelochemicals). Both pheromones and allelochemicals can be used as environmentally friendly pest management. Many semiochemicals, i.e. behaviour modifying chemicals, consist of pure or well-defined mixtures of stereoisomers, where some of the other stereoisomers can be repellent. It is therefore important to be able to separate them to produce a synthetic pheromone in a mixture that is attractive.</p><p>Pine sawflies are a family of insects that in some cases can be severe defoliators of conifer trees. <em>Diprion pini</em>, <em>Diprion similis</em> and <em>Neodiprion sertifer</em> are severe pests for these trees and have got the most attention in pine sawfly pheromone studies. The pheromone precursors are stored in the female body as long-chain secondary alcohols, which, when released, are esterified to acetates or propionates. The alcohols are chiral, and normally one of the stereoisomer is the main pheromone component, sometimes possible together with other stereoisomers as essential minor components.</p><p><em>Bicyclus</em> is a genus of African butterflies, and especially <em>Bicyclus anynana</em> has become a popular model for the study of life history evolution, morphology, mating choice and genetics. The wing pattern of <em>Bicyclus</em> differs depending on the season, with large eyespots during the rain-season and small or absent spots during the dry season.</p><p> <em>Euglossa</em> is one of the genera among the orchid bees in the Neotropics that does not produce its own pheromone. Instead, the males collect fragrances from orchids and other sources and store them in a pocket in their hind legs. Both <em>Bicyclus</em> and <em>Euglossa</em> use semiochemicals similar to pine sawflies, and thus can be analysed by the same methods.</p><p>Pheromones and other semiochemicals in insects are often present in low amounts in a complex matrix, and purification of the sample before chemical analysis is often required. A common method is gradient elution on a solid phase silica column. Separation of stereoisomers can be achieved either by using a column with a chiral stationary phase (CSP) or with pre-column derivatisation using a column with an achiral stationary phase (ASP) or a combination of both, with mass detection as the dominant detection method. The purpose of this work has been to improve the purification method, find suitable methods to separate the stereoisomers of secondary alcohols, and to apply this on extracts of insects.</p><p>By selecting the right fractions to collect during gradient elution the purification method was optimised. To reduce plasticizer contamination from ordinary columns, solid phase columns of Teflon or glass were used. For pre-column derivatisation of different chiral alcohols various acid chlorides were tested. For the pine sawfly pheromone precursors enantiopure (2<em>S</em>)-2-acetoxypropionyl chloride was the best choice. To separate some of the stereoisomers achiral 2-naphthoyl chloride was used. For derivatisation of 6,10,14-trimethylpentadecan-2-ol (<em>R</em>)-<em>trans</em>-chrysanthemoyl chloride was the best choice. The derivatised alcohols were separated on different columns, both chiral and non-chiral. Varian FactorFour VF-23ms was chosen as a general-purpose column, the Agilent HP-88 column was the best column with an ASP of those tested, and the Chiraldex B-PA column (CSP) was the only one that could separate all eight stereoisomers of derivatised 3,7-dimethylundecan-2-ol, 3,7-dimethyldodecan-2-ol, and 3,7-dimethyltridecan-2-ol.</p><p>To determine the stereoisomeric purity of standard solutions used in field experiments and extracts of different species of insects the optimised methods were applied. For extracts from <em>B. anynana</em>, <em>Euglossa</em> and <em>Neodiprion lecontei</em> this work describe the first determination of the stereochemistry of some of their semiochemicals.</p><p>For the determination of the stereochemistry of chiral semiochemicals the methods for purification and separation presented herein have shown to be of great value. The results will hopefully contribute to a better understanding of the communication among insects, and ultimately to a more environmentally friendly pest control.</p>Tue, 1 Nov 2011 11:12:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-14662Palle BreisteinDevelopment of highly enantioselective organocatalyzed transformations http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-15621 Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:51:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-15621Britt BäckströmEn tillvaro av utanförskap : En longitudinell studie om att vara i medelåldern och närstående till en person som insjuknat i stroke http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-10791 <p>Ett övergripande syfte med avhandling var att belysa den levda erfarenheten av att vara i medelåldern och närstående till en person som insjuknat i stroke för första gången och studera de närståendes erfarenheter av förändringen över tid under det första året efter utskrivning till hemmet, samt att belysa innebörden av medelålders makars levda erfarenhet av relationen till en partner som insjuknat i stroke; under det första året. Avhandlingen omfattar 4 delstudier (I-IV) som sammantaget utgör en longitudinell studie. Tio närstående (40 - 64 år) till personer insjuknade i stroke (förstagångs insjuknande) med förväntat hjälpbehov överstigande 6 månader, inkluderades konsekutivt i studien och följdes under ett år efter utskrivning till hemmet. Narrativa intervjuer utfördes en månad (I, n=10), sex månader (II, n=9) och ett år (III, n=9) efter utskrivning till hemmet. Bland de närstående i delstudie I-III fanns fyra kvinnliga makar (gifta; n=2, sambo; n=2) som utgjorde deltagarna i delstudie IV. För att analysera data användes en fenomenologisk hermeneutisk tolkningsmetod (I, IV) och kvalitativ innehållsanalys (II, III).</p><p>Avhandlingen visar på att vara i medelåldern och närstående till en person som insjuknat i stroke, efter utskrivningen till hemmet, innebär att gå igenom en förändringsprocess i olika steg. Upplevelsen var att en månad efter utskrivningen kämpa för att inte tappa fotfästet i en otrygg livssituation, där de upplevde ett främlingskap inför situationen, sig själv och personen som insjuknat i stroke. Ändå svarade de närstående oreflekterat an ett krav på ansvar och omsorg (I, IV). Efter sex månader visade de närstående på en kamp för att integrera förändringarna orsakade av stroke till det dagliga livet, förlika sig med förlusterna och att hitta balans och en ny normalitet (II). Makarna förde en kamp för att återfå känslan av samhörighet med sin partner och hitta tillbaka till sin egen identitet som maka, vilket bara var möjligt i frånvaro av en vårdarroll (II, IV). Efter ett år tvingades de närstående att erkänna, lära sig hantera och förlika sig med förändringarna orsakade av strokeinsjuknandet (III). Makarna fick lämna en ‛bild‛ av hur deras partner en gång varit. En trygg relation i samvaro och jämlikhet med en känsla av ‛vi‛ förändrades och blev främmande och ojämlik och ersattes med en känsla av ‛jag‛ och ‛du‛. För att härda ut måste makarna omvärdera relationen till sin partner och målen i livet. Även om partnern fortfarande var i livet visade makarna en sorg och ett lidande beroende på förlusten av den relation de en gång haft till personen som insjuknat i stroke (IV). Avhandlingen visar även att de närstående inte upplevde sig varit sedda och bekräftade av den professionella vårdpersonalen i sin egen situation som närstående. Vårdens fokus upplevdes hela tiden enbart vara den sjuke och främst de fysiska förändringarna hos personen med stroke. De närståendes upplevelse var av oförståelse för innebörden av de kognitiva och emotionella förändringarna hos den sjuke (I, II, III). De närstående gav så småningom också upp sin strävan att bli bekräftade vilket innebar att bära på ett lidande som inte blev synliggjort (III). En annan del av förändringsprocessen var att de närstående gick ifrån självförnekelse med fokus på den som insjuknat och nuet (I), till en medvetenhet om att ta egna behov i beaktande (II) och att även fokusera på eget välbefinnande för att orka i en framtid (III). Avhandlingen visar att de medelålders närstående går igenom en transitionsprocess, där upplevelser av förluster, förändringar, lidande och sorg finns relaterat till; dåtid, nutid och framtid. De närståendes upplevelse av oförståelse och brist på känsla av bekräftelse i deras livssituation under året efter utskrivningen till hemmet, kan leda till en känsla av ensamhet och övergivenhet både inom de närstående själva, men också i förhållande till andra och världen utanför.</p>Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:23:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-10791Linda Sofia KarlssonCoding for Improved Perceived Quality of 2D and 3D Video over Heterogeneous Networks http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11461 <p>The rapid development of video applications for TV, the internet and mobile phones is being taken one step further in 2010 with the introduction of stereo 3D TV. The 3D experience can be further improved using multiple views in the visualization. The transmission of 2D and 3D video at a sufficiently perceived quality is a challenge considering the diversity in content, the resources of the network and the end-users.Two problems are addressed in this thesis. Firstly, how to improve the perceived quality for an application with a limited bit rate. Secondly, how to ensure the best perceived quality for all end-users in a heterogeneous network.</p><p>A solution to the first problem is region-of-interest (ROI) video coding, which adapts the coding to provide a better quality in regions of interest to the viewer. A spatio-temporal filter is proposed to provide codec and standard independent ROI video coding. The filter reduces the number of bits necessary to encode the background and successfully re-allocate these bits to the ROI. The temporal part of the filter reduces the complexity compared to only using a spatial filter. Adaption to the requirements of the transmission channel is possible by controlling the standard deviation of the filter. The filter has also been successfully applied to 3D video in the form of 2D-plus-depth, where the depth data was used in the detection of the ROI.</p><p>The second problem can be solved by providing a video sequence that has the best overall quality. Hence, the best quality for each part of the network and for each 2D and 3D visualization system over time. Scalable video coding enables the extraction of the parts of the data to adapt to the requirements of the network and the end-user. A scheme is proposed in this thesis that provides scalability in the depth and view domain of multi-view plus depth video. The data are divided into enhancement layers depending on the content’s distance to the camera. Schemes to divide the data into layers within a view and between adjacent views have been analyzed. The quality evaluation indicates that the position of the layers in depth as well as the number of layers should be determined by analyzing the depth distribution. The front-most layers in adjacent views should be given priority over the others unless the application requires a high quality of the center views.</p>Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:19:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11461Lisbeth HellströmOn the wood chipping process : a study on basic mechanisms in order to optimize chip properties for pulping http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11911 <p>In both the chemical and mechanical pulping process, the logs are cut into wood chips by a disc chipper before fibre separation. To make the wood chipping process more efficient, one have to investigate in detail the coupling between process parameters and the quality of the chips. One objective of this thesis was to obtain an understanding of the fundamental mechanisms behind the creation of wood chips. Another objective with the thesis was to investigate whether it was possible to, in a way tailor the chipping process so as to reduce the energy consumption in a following mechanical refining process.</p><p>Both experimental and analytical/numerical approaches have been taken in this work. The first part of the experimental investigations, were performed with an in-house developed chipping device and a digital speckle photography equipment.</p><p>The results from the experimental investigation showed that the friction between the log and chipping tool is probably one crucial factor for the chip formation. Further more it was found that the indentation process is approximately self-similar, and that the stress field over the entire crack-plane is critical for chip creation.</p><p>The developed analytical model predicts the normal and shear strain distribution and to be more specific, the model can predict the compressive stresses parallel to the fibre direction for an assumed linear elastic and orthotropic material. The analytical distributions were found to be in reasonable agreement with the corresponding distributions obtained from a finite element analysis.</p><p>To be able to study the chipping process under realistic conditions, which for example means to use chipping rates representative for a real wood chipper, a laboratory chipper was developed. Details regarding the chipper and how to evaluate the force measurements are given together with an example of how the force on the cutting tool (the knife) varies with time during cutting.</p><p>To investigate the influence of a certain chipping process parameter, the chips were after production in the laboratory chipper, refined in a pilot refiner during conditions optimized for TMP (thermomechanical pulp) and CTMP (chemithermomechanical pulp) processes. It was concluded that the details concerning the chip process had a large impact on e.g. the energy consumption in both first stage and second stage refining. Results showing this are given in this thesis.</p>Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:43:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11911Johan LiljaThe Realization of Attractive Quality : Conceptual and practical perspectives within the TQM system http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12068 <p>Within the quality community, quality management is often pictured as and referred to as rapidly evolving and continuously learning by interaction with the surrounding world. In general, an ability to evolve and transform is also seen as most desirable and the only choice for long term survival. In line with this picture, quality scholars, consultants, and practitioners strongly accentuate the necessity and great benefits from continuous improvement as well as systematic collection and usage of facts about what customers really value, to guide such improvement. This is reflected in the exhortations “improve continuously”, “focus on the customer” and “base decisions on facts”, found with minor variations in most modern quality literature. Strong exhortations mainly directed outwards, towards the many leaders and organizations out there. Towards leaders and organizations that still have not grasped the necessity and great winnings from continuous improvement, that are still not fully applying modern quality initiatives like Total Quality Management (TQM).</p><p> </p><p>However, while seemingly being busy exhorting others, doubts have been increasingly raised concerning whether TQM, as currently applied, actually lives up to these exhortations. Does TQM itself continuously improve and evolve? Is the current application of TQM really taking into account facts in the surrounding world about what customers value?</p><p> </p><p>When viewing TQM as a system, as now is commonly done, the problem implied is a lack of system goal fulfillment, questioning if the current TQM system’s structure and processes are really purposeful. More specifically the critics highlight the inadequacy of the current reactive one-sided defect avoidance focus, stressing that defects do not matter much if you are making a product no one wants to buy. What can be referred to as “an obsession with error avoidance” is in fact shown to stifle both innovation and value creation.</p><p> </p><p>As for what the TQM system currently is missing, the shortcoming is often referred to as a lack of focus on Attractive Quality. That is, a lack of focus on a different kind of quality elements, often described as being unrelated to the dissatisfaction expressed, but strongly contributing to the customer’s positive emotions, such as delight. The inclusion and realization of Attractive Quality has been widely emphasized as important and urgent for more than 20 years. However, a more systematic inclusion and realization within the TQM system has remained no more than merely “a vision”. A situation seemingly supporting the argument that TQM really has failed in terms of continuously evolving and improving. An inability to learn and adapt that in the long term will jeopardize the survival of the entire TQM system.</p><p> </p><p>This thesis then aims to move “from a vision to reality” both in terms of exploring the realization of Aattractive Qquality within TQM, and in a wider sense towards realizing the desired state of TQM as truly evolving and alive. In doing so the thesis addresses the three questions of what, why and how the vision of a more systematic creation of Aattractive Qquality creation actually should and could be realized within the system of TQM. Among the results presented in this thesis are a new two-dimensional perspective on Attractive Quality and a re-understanding of the TQM system. The thesis also introduces a new methodology called Attraction Detection Study (ADS) as part of the concluding suggestions about how Attractive Quality could be more systematically created within the system of TQM.</p><p> </p>Tue, 5 Oct 2010 14:36:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12068Glenn BjörklundMetabolic and Cardiovascular Responses During Variable Intensity Exercise http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11744 <p>Previous research investigating endurance sports from a physiological perspectivehas mainly used constant or graded exercise protocols, although the nature ofsports like cross-country skiing and road cycling leads to continuous variations inworkload. Current knowledge is thus limited as regards physiological responses tovariations in exercise intensity. Therefore, the overall objective of the present thesiswas to investigate cardiovascular and metabolic responses to fluctuations inexercise intensity during exercise. The thesis is based on four studies (Studies I-IV);the first two studies use a variable intensity protocol with cardiorespiratory andblood measurements during cycling (Study I) and diagonal skiing (Study II). InStudy III one-legged exercise was used to investigate muscle blood flow duringvariable intensity exercise using PET scanning, and Study IV was performed toinvestigate the transition from high to low exercise intensity in diagonal skiing,with both physiological and biomechanical measurements. The current thesisdemonstrates that the reduction in blood lactate concentration after high-intensityworkloads is an important performance characteristic of prolonged variableintensity exercise while cycling and diagonal skiing (Studies I-II). Furthermore,during diagonal skiing, superior blood lactate recovery was associated with a highaerobic power (VO2max) (Study II). Respiratory variables such as VE/VO2, VE/VCO2and RER recovered independently of VO2max and did not reflect the blood lactate oracid base levels during variable intensity exercise during either cycling or diagonalskiing (Studies I-II). There was an upward drift in HR over time, but not inpulmonary VO2, with variable intensity exercise during both prolonged cyclingand diagonal skiing. As a result, the linear HR-VO2 relationship that wasestablished with a graded protocol was not present during variable intensityexercise (Studies I-II). In Study III, blood flow heterogeneity during one-leggedexercise increased when the exercise intensity decreased, but remained unchangedbetween the high intensity workloads. Furthermore, there was an excessiveincrease in muscular VO2 in the consecutive high-intensity workloads, mainlyexplained by increased O2 extraction, as O2 delivery and blood flow remainedunchanged. In diagonal skiing (Study IV) the arms had a lower O2 extraction thanthe legs, which could partly be explained by their longer contact phase along withmuch higher muscle activation. Furthermore, in Study IV, the O2 extraction in botharms and legs was at the upper limit during the high intensity workload with nofurther margin for increase. This could explain why no excessive increase inpulmonary VO2 occurred during diagonal skiing (Study II), as increased O2extraction is suggested to be the main reason for this excessive increase in VO2(Study III).</p>Thu, 1 Jul 2010 11:00:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11744Johan LarssonLeadership for Quality, Effectiveness and Health http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11218 <p>Leadership, quality, effectiveness and health are important factors in the achievement of organisational success. Three questions are addressed to study these elements:</p><p>1. How do leadership values relate to leadership behaviours, quality methodologies and health in organisations?</p><p>2. How do leadership behaviours relate to effectiveness and health in organisations?</p><p>3. How can leadership tools be designed and used to promote health in organisations?</p><p>The research is based on five studies from three research projects. This research is reported in five papers. Study I concerned eight organisations in the middle of Sweden; the focus was on leadership values and behaviours. Study II concerned three successful organisations that received the award, ‘Sweden’s number one workplace’. Focus in this study was mainly on leadership behaviours. Study III combined results from Studies I and II with a focus on successful leadership behaviours. Study IV concerned the eight organisations in Study I. A leadership tool in the form of a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model was developed and evaluated. Study V was of two organisations in Sweden; the focus in that work was on the use of a leadership tool control chart designed to give managers statistically valid early warning signals about health in their organisations. Theory X and Y together with the three-dimensional leadership behaviour theory were used to assess leadership values and behaviours. The theory surrounding PDSA and control charts were used to develop leadership tools. The dimension of health is defined from a salutogenic humanistic perspective; which emphasizes individual well-being. The dimension of quality is defined as the ability to satisfy or exceed needs and expectations. Effectiveness is defined as the extent to which externally and internally defined objectives are fulfilled.</p><p>Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. Interviews, seminars with employees, collection of human resource and effectiveness figures, and questionnaires completed by managers and subordinates were used to collect data.</p><p>Managers with more Theory Y-oriented leadership values were rated by subordinates as high concerning quality methodologies and leadership behaviour dimensions. The subordinates of these managers tended to be healthier.</p><p>Two of the studies identified common groups of leadership behaviours in effective and healthy organisations: strategy and vision, communication and information, authority and responsibility, learning culture, worker conversations, plainness and simplicity, humanity and trust, walking around and reflective personal leadership.</p><p>These leadership behaviours fit into a leadership profile where all three of the dimensions of structure, relation and change are present. Of the three, the relation dimension is strongest and concluded to be a universal dimension.</p><p>The developed PDSA model seems to be a leadership tool that influences both leadership values and behaviour, particularly in the area of relation-oriented leadership behaviours. An early warning system built on CUSUM- and Shewhartcharts concerning the health indicators of self-assessed general health and new sickcases per employee was also found to be a powerful and usable leadership tool.</p><p>For future research, the explorative research findings can be quantitatively tested using representative and preferably cross-national data, with a longitudinal design.</p>Tue, 2 Feb 2010 09:07:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11218Johanna SefyrinSitting on the Fence – Critical Explorations of Participatory Practices in IT Design http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11250 <p>This thesis is about participation in IT design. The problem background that I have outlined is that information technologies have far reaching consequences for societies and for individuals, and that the design of information technologies is one among many practices that shape the world in which we live. From a democratic point of view it is crucial that also women should be involved in these reality producing practices. In relation to this there are at least two stories about women’s participation in IT design; one about their absence from IT design, and one about their inclusion therein. Based on this problem background the purpose of my research is to critically explore participatory IT design practices, with a special focus on gender, power and knowledge. In order to fulfil the purpose I have three research questions: Who participated in the IT design practices? How did knowledge come into being in these practices? How was responsibility enacted?</p><p>My frame of reference is based on two research fields. One is Participatory Design (PD) with its focus on practitioners as co-designers in IT design practices, and the other is feminist technoscience which focuses on theories, methods, approaches, knowledge processes, and gender in technoscience practices. These two frameworks shares an interest in power relations and democratic participation in IT design. My empirical material was gathered with the help of ethnographic methods, and comes from a large IT design project in a Swedish government agency. The project was an eGovernment project, and a central objective was to rationalise the business. My focus was some (women) administrative officers who participated as business process analysts. This material was analysed with the help of feminist technoscience methodologies, foremost agential realism and diffraction.</p><p>My thesis is based on five research papers, and the results of these are discussed and related to the research questions and the purpose. Based on an expanded notion of IT design and of participation in IT design, I argue that the administrative officers in the IT design project participated as central actors in the project. These administrative officers were able to participate within the context provided by various entangled sociomaterial practices, such as the project method, boundaries between business and IT, gendered divisions of labour, eGovernment, rationalisation, the project objectives, and an innovation practice. I also argue that in the project knowledge did not simply exist, but came into being as a result of entanglements of these sociomaterial practices, foremost the project objectives and the method. As a result of the reconfigured knowledge the administrative officers were removed to the periphery of the project. An additional argument is that with participation comes responsibility, and that responsibility is related to agency. Responsibility was enacted in and as a result of entangled sociomaterial practices. In this project the administrative officers were given and took a lot of responsibility within the boundaries provided by the sociomaterial practices, but they also worked to widen their agency and thus extend their responsibilities in the project. In relation to gender my argument is that the administrative officers in the project – who were women – participated as central actors, but they were also marginalised and made invisible. Thus in this IT design project women were included as central actors.</p><p>As one of my contributions to PD and to feminist technoscience I want to underscore the importance of sociomaterial practices in IT design, such as IT design methods, and project objectives. These may act to restrict actors’ possibilities to act and to exert influence. Another is that knowledge in IT design practices come into being and are reconfigured as a consequence of intra-acting sociomaterial practices. Reconfigurations of knowledge might shift the power balance among actors in IT design projects and marginalise previously central actors. Responsibility too comes into being, or is enacted, in entangled sociomaterial practices. Furthermore responsibility in IT design is closely related to agency and participation, and widened agency might lead to extended possibilities to take responsibility. Additionally if positions in IT design are understood as fixed, they might make invisible more shifting and intricate professional relations and activities, and once these become visible, more women may become visible as central actors in IT design. A further contribution is that an expanded notion of IT design and participation might make women visible as central participants in IT design and in eGovernment. However, also central participants may become marginalised, as happened in this project.</p>Mon, 8 Feb 2010 13:58:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11250Lena NorrbrandAcute and early chronic responses to resistance exercise using flywheel or weights http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11895 <p>Resistance exercise using weights typically offers constant external load during coupled shortening (concentric) and lengthening (eccentric) muscle actions in sets of consecutive repetitions until failure. However, the constant external load and the inherent capability of skeletal muscle to produce greater force in the eccentric compared with the concentric action, would infer that most actions are executed with incomplete motor unit involvement. In contrast, use of the inertia of flywheels to generate resistance allows for maximal voluntary force to be produced throughout the concentric action, and for brief episodes of greater eccentric than concentric loading, i.e. “eccentric overload”. Thus, it was hypothesized that acute flywheel resistance exercise would induce greater motor unit and muscle use, and subsequent fatigue, compared with traditional weight stack/free weight resistance exercise. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that flywheel training would induce more robust neuromuscular adaptations compared with training using weights. A total of 43 trained and untrained men were investigated in these studies.</p><p>Knee extensor muscle activation, fatigue response and muscle use were assessed during exercises by recording electromyographic signals and by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging, respectively. Flywheel resistance exercise provoked maximal or near maximal muscle activation from the first repetition, induced robust fatigue, and prompted more substantial motor unit and muscle use than weight stack/free weight resistance exercise in both novice and resistance trained men. Both prior to and following five weeks of unilateral knee extension training, the eccentric muscle activation was greater with flywheel than weight stack training. Furthermore, weight stack training generated greater increases of dynamic strength and neural adaptations, while flywheel training generated more prominent hypertrophy of individual quadriceps muscles and greater improvement of maximal isometric strength. Hence, due to the preferential metabolic cost of the concentric rather than eccentric actions, the maximal activation through the entire range of the concentric action within each repetition of a set during flywheel resistance exercise probably evoked the marked fatigue, and prompted more substantial muscle use than resistance exercise using weights. Furthermore, while any cause‐effect relationship remains to be determined, results of the pesent study suggest that brief episodes of “eccentric overload” amplify muscular adaptations following concentriceccentric resistance training.</p><p> </p>Mon, 2 Aug 2010 16:55:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11895Barzoo EliassiA stranger in my homeland : The politics of belonging among young people with Kurdish backgrounds in Sweden http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11903 <p>This dissertation examines how young people with Kurdish backgrounds form their identity in Sweden with regards to processes of inclusion and exclusion. It also sheds light on the ways these young people deal with ethnic discrimination and racism. Further, the study outlines the importance of these social processes for the discipline of social work and the ways social workers can work with disadvantaged and marginalized groups and endorse their struggle for social justice and full equal citizenship beyond racist and discriminatory practices. The empirical analysis is built on interviews with 28 young men and women with Kurdish backgrounds in Sweden. Postcolonial theory, belonging and identity formation constitute the central conceptual framework of this study.</p><p>The young people referred to different sites in which they experienced ethnic discrimination and stigmatization. These experiences involved the labor market, mass media, housing segregation, legal system and school system. The interviewees also referred to the roles of ‘ordinary’ Swedes in obstructing their participation in the Swedish society through exclusionary discourses relating to Swedish identity. The interviewees’ life situation in Sweden, sense of ethnic discrimination as well as disputes over identity making with other young people with Middle-Eastern background are among the most important reasons for fostering strong Kurdish nationalist sentiments, issues that are related to the ways they can exercise their citizenship rights in Sweden and how they deal with exclusionary practices in their everyday life. The study shows that the interviewees respond to and resist ethnic discrimination in a variety of ways including interpersonal debates and discussions, changing their names to Swedish names, strengthening differences between the self and the other, violence, silence and deliberately ignoring racism. They also challenged and spoke out against the gendered racism that they were subjected to in their daily lives due to the paternalist discourse of ”honor-killing”.</p><p>The research participants had been denied an equal place within the boundary of Swedishness partly due to a racist postcolonial discourse that valued whiteness highly. Paradoxically, some interviewees reproduced the same discourse through choosing to use it against black people, Africans, newly-arrived Kurdish immigrants (”imports”), ”Gypsies” and Islam in order to claim a modern Kurdish identity as near to whiteness as possible. This indicates the multiple dimensions of racism. Those who are subjected to racism and ethnic discrimination can be discriminatory and reproduce the racist discourse. Despite unequal power relations, both dominant and minoritized subjects are all marked by the postcolonial condition in structuring subjectivities, belonging and identification.</p>Mon, 9 Aug 2010 09:35:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11903Lena-Mari SjöblomNärstående i den psykiatriska vården : En kvalitativ studie om erfarenheter av närståendes delaktighet http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12975 Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:03:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12975Sara H NorströmSoil and stream water chemistry in a boreal catchment - interactions, influences of dissolved organic matter and effects of wood ash application http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12998 <p>Two small bordering catchments in Bispgården, Central Sweden, wereinvestigated in regard to soil solution and stream water chemistry during the frostfree seasons of 2003-2007. Both catchments were drained by first order streams,Fanbergsbäcken and Gråbergsbäcken, and in Fanbergsbäckens catchment anextensive investigation of the soil and soil solution chemistry was conducted bylysimeter and centrifugation sampling. The area of intensive soil solutioninvestigation was situated in a slope towards a stream incorporating a rechargearea, with podzolic soil, and a discharge area close to the stream with an arenosolsoil. Samples were continuously taken in both the recharge- and the discharge areaof the slope, and stream water was sampled in the streams of both catchments. Themain variables of interest of the study were the interactions, the influence ofdissolved organic carbon and the effects of wood ash application to soil solutionand stream water.The natural variations and the interactions between soil solution and streamwater were monitored during 2003-2004. In soil solution, most of the investigatedsubstances tended to increase during the growing season, due to weathering andmicrobial degradation of biota. Ca, Mg, Al and Fe were highly associated todissolved organic carbon (DOC) throughout the catchment. The low molecularfraction of DOC seemed to have a higher impact on the soil processes in therecharge area, while high molecular DOC was more important for transport ofcations in the discharge area and the stream water.The concentration of different substances in the two streams differedsignificantly, even though the catchments were similar in size, shape andforestation. The seasonal patterns of most of the substances measured weresignificantly correlated between the streams, however. Cations and pH correlatedwell with DOC and flow. The flow pattern driven by precipitation seems to be thedriver of the stream water chemistry.Wood ash was applied at a dosage of 3 ton/ha to one of the catchments in theautumn of 2004, to investigate the initial effects on the soil solution- and streamwater chemistry. WAA is recommended by the Swedish Forest Agency tocounteract acidification in soil and runoff that may be caused by an intensivebiomass harvesting. The impact of the WAA was studied during 2005-2006.Compared to the control temporarily higher concentrations of K, Ca and SO4 wereobserved in the soil solution of the ashed area. In the stream water the effects of theWAA were easier to distinguish due to higher sampling frequency. The strongesteffect was seen for K, but increases in the stream water were also noted for DOC,Ca, Mg, Si, Cl and malonate. No increase in pH could be statistically verifiedhowever, and overall the initial effects of the WAA seem mild.</p>Fri, 14 Jan 2011 16:07:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12998Mattias FredrikssonEfficient algorithms for highly automated evaluation of liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry data http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12991 <p>Liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC‐MS) has due to its superiorresolving capabilities become one of the most common analytical instruments fordetermining the constituents in an unknown sample. Each type of sample requires a specificset‐up of the instrument parameters, a procedure referred to as method development.During the requisite experiments, a huge amount of data is acquired which often need to bescrutinised in several different ways. This thesis elucidates data processing methods forhandling this type of data in an automated fashion.The properties of different commonly used digital filters were compared for LC‐MS datade‐noising, of which one was later selected as an essential data processing step during adeveloped peak detection step. Reconstructed data was further discriminated into clusterswith equal retention times into components by an adopted method. This enabled anunsupervised and accurate comparison and matching routine by which components fromthe same sample could be tracked during different chromatographic conditions.The results show that the characteristics of the noise have an impact on the performanceof the tested digital filters. Peak detection with the proposed method was robust to thetested noise and baseline variations but functioned optimally when the analytical peaks hada frequency band different from the uninformative parts of the signal. The algorithm couldeasily be tuned to handle adjacent peaks with lower resolution. It was possible to assignpeaks into components without typical rotational and intensity ambiguities associated tocommon curve resolution methods, which are an alternative approach. The underlyingfunctions for matching components between different experiments yielded satisfactoryresults. The methods have been tested on various experimental data with a high successrate.</p>Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:45:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12991Qinghua WangTraffic Analysis, Modeling and Their Applications in Energy-Constrained Wireless Sensor Networks : On Network Optimization and Anomaly Detection http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-10690 <p>Wireless sensor network (WSN) has emerged as a promising technology thanks to the recent advances in electronics, networking, and information processing. A wide range of WSN applications have been proposed such as habitat monitoring, environmental observations and forecasting systems, health monitoring, etc. In these applications, many low power and inexpensive sensor nodes are deployed in a vast space to cooperate as a network.</p><p>Although WSN is a promising technology, there is still a great deal of additional research required before it finally becomes a mature technology. This dissertation concentrates on three factors which are holding back the development of WSNs. Firstly, there is a lack of traffic analysis & modeling for WSNs. Secondly, network optimization for WSNs needs more investigation. Thirdly, the development of anomaly detection techniques for WSNs remains a seldomly touched area.</p><p>In the field of traffic analysis & modeling for WSNs, this dissertation presents several ways of modeling different aspects relating to WSN traffic, including the modeling of sequence relations among arriving packets, the modeling of a data traffic arrival process for an event-driven WSN, and the modeling of a traffic load distribution for a symmetric dense WSN. These research results enrich the current understanding regarding the traffic dynamics within WSNs, and provide a basis for further work on network optimization and anomaly detection for WSNs.</p><p>In the field of network optimization for WSNs, this dissertation presents network optimization models from which network performance bounds can be derived. This dissertation also investigates network performances constrained by the energy resources available in an indentified bottleneck zone. For a symmetric dense WSN, an optimal energy allocation scheme is proposed to minimize the energy waste due to the uneven energy drain among sensor nodes. By modeling the interrelationships among communication traffic, energy consumption and WSN performances, these presented results have efficiently integrated the knowledge on WSN traffic dynamics into the field of network optimization for WSNs.</p><p>Finally, in the field of anomaly detection for WSNs, this dissertation uses two examples to demonstrate the feasibility and the ease of detecting sensor network anomalies through the analysis of network traffic. The presented results will serve as an inspiration for the research community to develop more secure and more fault-tolerant WSNs.</p>Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:08:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-10690Erika WallRiskförståelse : Teoretiska och empiriska perspektiv http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11411 <p>The thesis introduces the concept of ‘sense-making of risk’ (riskförståelse) for the purpose of the theoretical and empirical study of the individual’s sense-making of risk. Particular weight is attached to an examination of the term’s various components, its compass, and the relationship between sense-making of risk and behaviour. The premise is that risk is created and defined by the common conceptions that exist within the framework of a specific social context; the effect is to focus attention on the significance of social and cultural contexts. To provide a full picture of sense-making of risk, and risk behaviour, and to study these phenomena using a variety of methodological perspectives, the data was gathered from both polls and focus-group interviews. It is in the first article, based on a focus-group interview study, that the concept of sense-making of risk is introduced: the empirical results demonstrate that it can be used to chart how young people with similar risk perceptions differ in their understanding of a variety of risks. A theoretical model is proposed that establishes that there are two dimensions to the individual’s sense-making of risk. The second article considers young people’s risk behaviour in traffic milieus. The principal conclusion drawn in this study is that the individual’s sense-making of risk is insufficient to explain behaviour in relation to risk: the spatial context must also be taken into account. The third article focuses on the relationship between place attachment and sense-making of risk, and demonstrates that various aspects of place attachment have implications for the individual’s sense-making of risk. The fourth and final article offers a cluster analysis. The article’s most important result is its refinement of the theoretical concepts. Structure of meaning is singled out as the basis for the individual’s sense-making of risk. In its empirical application the concept was shown to be useful in studying the behavioural differences between various social groups, since grouping by structure of meaning furnishes an explanation for variations in risk and risk-reducing behaviour. The introductory and concluding chapters assemble the studies’ findings and offer a full account of the concept of sense-making of risk. The thesis’ most important conceptual contribution is to the question of how the individual arrives at a personal sense-making of risk. However, it will fall to future studies to establish the concept’s general applicability by considering its theoretical ramifications and empirical implementation. In this way, sense-making of risk can take its place in a specifically sociological conceptual apparatus that focuses on how the individual relates to risk.</p>Tue, 6 Apr 2010 08:39:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11411Annika KarlströmKejsarsnitt utan medicinsk indikation : Attityder, förekomst och önskemål http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11566 Wed, 2 Jun 2010 08:15:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11566Leonid KuzminInterfacial kinetic ski friction http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11525 <p>It is no doubt, that the ski glide over the snow is a very complicated object of</p><p>research. However, ski glide is just a one area of many other areas of human</p><p>knowledge. As a rule, the scientists and practitioners, who work in these areas,</p><p>operate with some publicly expressed more or less solid hypotheses. These</p><p>researchers work with one hypothesis until another and a better one comes up.</p><p>Our literature studies and our own observations regarding modern skis</p><p>preparations, did not give us any solid hypotheses, which are able to explain the</p><p>actual form and content of this procedure. The present work is an attempt to reveal</p><p>such hypotheses.</p><p>Conclusion: To achieve an optimal glide on skis with the base (the ski sole)</p><p>made of some high hydrophobic durable polymer, e.g. UHMWPE, PTFE; we only</p><p>have to create an adequate topography (texture) on the ski running surface,</p><p>adequate to the actual snow conditions.</p><p> </p>Mon, 17 May 2010 12:20:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11525Adam ShehataMedia Matter : The Political Influences of the News Media http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11511 Mon, 17 May 2010 09:15:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11511Sören HalvarssonManufacture of straw MDF and fibreboards http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11732 <p>The purpose of this thesis was to develop an economical, sustainable, and environmentally friendly straw Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) process, capable of full-scale manufacturing and to produce MDF of requested quality. The investigated straw was based on wheat (<em>Triticum aestivum </em>L.) and rice (<em>Oryzae sativa</em> L.). In this thesis three different methods were taken for manufacture of straw MDF; (A) wheat-straw fibre was blowline blended with melamine-modified urea-formaldehyde (MUF), (B) rice-straw fibre was mixed with methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) in a resin drum-blender, and (C) wheat-straw fibre was activated in the blowline by the addition of Fenton’s reagent (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>/Fe<sup>2+</sup>) for production of non-resin MDF panels. The MUF/wheat straw MDF panels were approved according to the requirements of the EN standard for MDF (EN 622-5, 2006). The MDI/rice-straw MDF panels were approved according to requirements of the standard for MDF of the American National Standard Institute (ANSI A208.2-2002). The non-resin wheat-straw panels showed mediocre MDF panel properties and were not approved according to the requirements in the MDF standard. The dry process for wood-based MDF was modified for production of straw MDF. The straw MDF process was divided into seven main process steps.</p><ol><li>1. Size-reduction (hammer-milling) and screening of straw</li><li>2. Wetting and heating of straw</li><li>3. Defibration</li><li>4. Resination of straw fibre</li><li>5. Mat forming</li><li>6. Pre-pressing</li><li>7. Hot-pressing</li></ol><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The primary results were that the straw MDF process was capable of providing satisfactory straw MDF panels based on different types of straw species and adhesives. Moreover, the straw MDF process was performed in pilot-plant scale and demonstrated as a suitable method for producing straw MDF from straw bales to finished straw MDF panels. In the environmental perspective the agricultural straw-waste is a suitable source for producing MDF to avoid open field burning and to capture carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>), the biological sink for extended time into MDF panels, instead of converting straw directly into bio energy or applying straw fibre a few times as recycled paper. Additionally, the straw MDF panels can be recycled or converted to energy after utilization.</p><p>A relationship between water retention value (WRV) of resinated straw fibres, the thickness swelling of corresponding straw MDF panels, and the amount of applied adhesive was determined. WRV of the straw fibre increased and the TS of straw MDF declined as a function of the resin content. The empirical models developed were of acceptable significance and the R<sup>2</sup> values were 0.69 (WRV) and 0.75 (TS), respectively. Reduced thickness swelling of MDF as the resin content is increased is well-known. The increase of WRV as a function of added polymers is not completely established within the science of fibre swelling. Fortunately, more fundamental research can be initiated and likely a simple method for prediction of thickness swelling of MDF by analysis of the dried and resinated MDF fibres is possible.</p>Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:41:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11732Per FranssonLandskapet som lärobok : Regionalitet och medborgarfostran i Jämtland kring sekelskiftet 1900 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12183 <p>This thesis examines the relationship between regionality and societal integration at the turn of the 20th century from an historical and pedagogical perspective. The national identity project of the time that made national unity its overarching goal and that imagined the nation as a homogenous entity, also institutionalised regional distinctiveness. How did the agents of the time handle the conflict between the regionally particular and the nationally general? What is analysed here is the publicly constructed and mediated “regionality”, which is to say the production of meanings about a region and the projection onto it of expectations and ideas. A discourse on Jämtland has been demarcated, which is analysed alongside other contemporary discourses, including class and gender. All of these discourses were rooted in the concept of “societal”. The conception showed that the development of the societal whole was primary in relation to other interests. Defined as “societal”, formerly excluded identities could be made participants in the building of the nation. Empirical examination is given to how “Jämtland” and “the Jämtlandic” were defined in the regional press, in the framework of general education, and by the Swedish Tourist Association, regional societies, institutions and so forth. The study shows that at the turn of the 20th century, regionality very much functioned as a means to territorially anchor more general ideas and notions that inheredin the modernisation and democratisation of society. With the objective of attaining a higher degree of national integration, a regional distinctiveness was constructed that was nationally complementary and that served as a metaphorfor subordinated participation in society. From grand, majestic panoramas, historical myths, traditional local handicrafts and provincial flowers a symbolic distinctiveness was created, but with the aim of establishing genuine national unity. Society was to be described and understood from particular and individual viewpoints, so that the individual could develop a sense of the general and so that society’s fundamental values were not undermined by his liberation. Jämtlandic regionality that has been identified in the study can thus be regarded as a supra-ideological institution. What came to be regionalised was something more fundamental than the artefacts of cultural heritage that people and institutions believed themselves to be rescuing from modernisation: it was the nation’s territoriality. The concept of hembygd represented a “spatialisation” of the societally coded concept of citizenship, and helped to tie this concept to the individual’s own lifeworld. More than anything else, regionality indicateda perspective on reality. If it was possible to obtain an overview of a regional context from a local vantage point or an individual locally crafted artefact, it was also possible to conceive of the larger national framework of which this region formed a part. The regional denoted the link between the private and the public, between the individual and his abstract national affiliation.</p>Tue, 2 Nov 2010 13:17:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12183Evelina LandstedtLife circumstances and adolescent mental health: Perceptions, associations and a gender analysis http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11982 <p>Despite a well-documented gender pattern of adolescent mental health, public health research investigating possible influencing factors from a gender-theoretical approach is scarce. This study aimed to explore what factors and circumstances are related to adolescent mental health and to apply a gender analysis to the findings in order to improve the understanding of the relationships between life circumstances and the gendered patterning of mental health among young people.</p><p> </p><p>The study population was 16-19-year-old Swedish students and data was collected by means of focus groups (N=29) and self-administered questionnaires (N=1,663, 78.3% response rate) in school settings. Mental health problems were defined in a broad sense including the adolescents’ own understandings, perceived stress, psychological distress and deliberate self-harm.</p><p> </p><p>The mental health problems of perceived stress, psychological distress and deliberate self-harm were twice as common among girls as boys. The findings suggest that adolescent mental health is associated with the life circumstances of social relationships, demands and responsibility taking and experiences of violence and harassment. Supportive relationships with friends, family and teachers were found to be of importance to positive mental health, whereas poor social relationships, loneliness and lack of influence were associated with mental health problems. Perceived demands and responsibility taking regarding school work, relationships, future plans, appearance and financial issues were strongly related to mental health problems, particularly among girls regardless of social class. The results indicate that physical violence, sexual assault, bullying and sexual harassment are severe risk factors for mental health problems in young people. Boys and girls experienced different types of violence, and the victim-perpetrator relationships of physical violence differed. These diverging experiences appeared to influence the associations with mental health problems in boys and girls.</p><p> </p><p>A gender analysis provides the tools to gain knowledge about the ways that boys’ and girls’ lives are shaped by gender relations and constructions at different levels in society and how these life circumstances represent risk- or protective factors for mental health. For example, unequal power structures and the ways girls are expected to ‘do’ femininity likely influence their life circumstances in ways that place them at greater risk of mental health problems. Hegemonic constructions of masculinity and advantaged positions likely contribute to life circumstances that are positive for mental health but are also implying risk factors for poor mental health among boys, e.g., violence. It is also important to recognise how the intertwined cultural and structural aspects of gender and social class influence the lives and mental health of boys and girls. In conclusion, gendered and class-related mechanisms at the different levels in society influence the distribution of risk factors unevenly among boys and girls, which could be a possible explanation for the gender differences in reports of perceived stress, psychological distress and deliberate self-harm.</p><p> </p><p>The likelihood of gender and socioeconomic differences in mental health problems should be taken into account in prevention and health promotion strategies at all levels in society. A greater awareness about gender relations and the gendered social circumstances under which young people live is required. The school environment is an important arena with respect to prevention and health promotion. There is also a need for a joint action against violence and harassment at all levels in society. Implications do not only concern young people; social policy and legislation should focus on reducing gender and class inequalities in general.</p>Wed, 20 Oct 2010 08:04:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11982Erik NydahlI fyrkens tid : Politisk kultur i två ångermanländska landskommuner http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12221 <p><strong>Abstract </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Nydahl, Erik;<em> I fyrkens tid. Politisk kultur i två ångermanländska landskommuner 1860-1930</em></p><p><em></em><em>[</em><em>Voting by income: The political culture of two Swedish municipalities, 1860–1930]</em><em> </em><em></em></p><p>Department of Humanities<em>, </em>Mid Sweden University, SE-871 88 Härnösand, Sweden</p><p>ISBN: 978-91-86694-05-0, ISSN 1652-893X, Doctoral thesis nr: 100 (2010).</p><p>Swedish text with a summary in English<em> </em></p><p> </p><p>This dissertation analyses the development of political culture in two Swedish municipalities between the 1860s and the 1930s – a period during which Swedish society underwent major changes. The purpose is to examine the direct and indirect consequences of an evolving industrial society's economic, social and political structures on political culture at local levels.</p><p>The following factors are the base of the study. At the start of the 1860s, a long-standing Swedish tradition of local self-government was reinforced through a major reform, the Local Government Ordinance of 1862 (1862 års kommunalförfattningar). From this point, each parish formed its own municipality. The new municipalities were given the right to levy taxes and made responsible for welfare and schools, thereby becoming a prominent arena for the exercise of power at local levels. The municipal reform of 1862 was carried out at a time when Swedish society was transitioning as the industrialisation process accelerated during the latter part of the 1800s. Gradually, the old structure of an agricultural society was cast aside in favour of a new, modern industrial society. Naturally, also the municipalities changed – directly and indirectly. For some municipalities, adjustments were significant; for others, less so. Part of this process was the reformation of voting rights from plutocratic to public and equal. Another part was the reorganisation of municipal government from direct government via municipal meetings to representative government via municipal councils.</p><p>Two main issues are formulated and answered in the dissertation. The one addresses who or which had the power over local politics and how the situation changed over time. The second addresses in what way municipal representation changed form with the modernisation of the municipalities.</p><p>The empirical survey comprises a comparative case study between two municipalities in the northern part of Sweden. The one municipality, Ytterlännäs, was early the site for large-scale sawmill industry. The second municipality, Stigsjö, retained its agricultural structure throughout the entire period in question. The comparison makes it possible to analyse the impending industrial society from two different poles.</p><p>In the 1800s, local politics was considered to be a completely different sort than politics at a national level. The difference was that local politics, referred to as “the municipal”, was seen as non-political and unaffiliated with those conflicts addressed at national levels, referred to as “the political”. The dissertation demonstrates two different models of how modern municipal politics evolved from the municipal meetings of the 1800s. While the starting point was the same in both municipalities, the paths diverged in the early 1870s. In the agricultural municipality of Stigsjö, it was “business as usual”. In the industrial municipality of Ytterlännäs, however, confrontation arose between enterprises and farmers and eventually, a labour movement emerged demanding the right of participation. The dissertation shows that the distinction between “municipal” and “political” was obliterated in the beginning of the 1900s, paving the way for a new concept – municipal politics. This process occurred in a very palpable way in Ytterlännäs but eventually, Stigsjö was forced to conform. The new municipal politics was, so to speak, the final station in both municipalities. In conjunction with party politicisation of local politics, the criteria and seats for the municipal representatives changed. When party affiliation became an important criterion, professional affiliation became less relevant. Party bloc seats replaced the independent seats, and representatives were eventually paid remuneration.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Keywords: Political culture, politics, voting right, municipal politics, industrial society, industrialisation, elected representatives, representation, temperance movement, labour movement, popular movements, political parties, modernisation</p>Mon, 8 Nov 2010 08:51:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12221Monica ErikssonRecovery from an Acute Myocardial Infarction : A Longitudinal Study of Couples http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12120 <p>The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate recovery in the relationshipbetween couples following an acute myocardial infarction [AMI]. An additionalaim was to compare differences over time regarding hope and health‐relatedquality of life [HRQoL] for both patient and partner. The thesis is based on fourempirical studies (I‐IV), and has a longitudinal design employing both qualitativeand quantitative methods. A purposive sample was recruited comprising 15couples in which one partner had been diagnosed with an AMI. Study I wascarried out as individual tape‐recorded interviews aimed at describing thepatient´s and their partner´s experiences after hospital discharge. Study II alsoused individual tape‐recorded interviews, this time with the aim of describing andinterpreting the couple´s thoughts and expectations about their future life after thepatients’ discharge. Study III used the HHI‐S and SF‐36 measures to comparechanges over time in self‐rated hope and health‐related quality of life, anddifferences between patients’ ratings and their partner´s. Study IV used repeatedindividual tape‐recorded interviews with the aim of interpreting the couples´narratives about their relationship and daily life. The data were analysed andinterpreted using a number of qualitative content analysis methods (I, II, IV) anddescriptive and comparative statistics (III).Overall, the couples´ recovery from an AMI in the two years after an AMI consisted of a striving to reach some kind of balance and stability in their currentlife situation. The period after discharge from the hospital involved understandingthe importance of the home as a place in which one feels at home and which bringsa feeling of safety, experiencing the phenomenon of security and being at homewithin oneself, and seeking normalisation in returning to an ordinary life (I). Thecouples´ thoughts about their future lives were either optimistic, taking an activeapproach, or pessimistic, taking a wait‐and‐see approach. The couples could bedivided into four positions in terms of their visions of the future: life companions,who were in concordance regarding their future; tightrope walkers, who had incommon a need to reprioritise what they considered important in their future;pathfinders, who had in common an undefined vision of their future and observers, who saw their future including both physical as well as sociallimitations (II). Self‐rated hope and HRQoL both improved over time, but few ofthese improvements were statistically significant, and I found no statistically groupeffects. Estimation of the MDC index revealed that neither HHI‐S nor SF‐36measures stable traits (III). Finally, the repeated interviews revealed how thecouples viewed their daily life, mutual relationships and roles in their relationshipVIIover time. There was an abundant variation in a number of the couples´ storiesabout their relationship and daily life during the recovery period (IV).In conclusion, it is clear that what happen to one party in a relationship influencesthe other party. The couples in the studies showed improvements in both hope andhealth‐related quality of life over time. The HHI‐S and SF‐36 measures seemed tobe sensitive to and affected by the current situation. Going through an AMI is alife‐changing event that makes it necessary for the couple to make adjustments andadapt to their new situation. Different couples have different approaches tohandling this situation; no two couples are the same, and every couple willperceive and deal with the AMI differently. An AMI starts a process of transition,and over time a couple affected by AMI will undergo external as well as internal changes.</p>Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:01:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12120Joel PalmiusOrganization-level information systems : Tools for supporting the development process http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12112 <p>All organizations have an information system. An information system is all that which contribute to the distribution within an organization, and without the information system, the organization would not survive. Despite this, work with changing or constructing information systems often end up with suboptimal results. In recent scientific articles, and within profession-specific newspapers, the figures on how many such project end up as failures range between 70 and 80 percent. One source of problems with information systems work is deficiencies of the governance of the change processes. Further, many methods applied to information systems work are in fact software systems method and may thus be suspected to miss important aspects of the information system. In this thesis I have studied approaches for supporting the information systems development process. These approaches have all included trying to find aspects of the information system and trying to measure, simulate or in other ways asses them in order to get an overview of where effort has to be added in the development process.The results of the thesis include recommendations surrounding the simulations of such aspects, as well as a model where the aspects have been formulated into criteria for information system evaluation. The CISE model (Criteria for Information Systems Evaluation) is the main product, and it is available to useas a checklist during information systems work.</p>Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:32:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-12112Najeem LawalMemory Synthesis for FPGA Implementation of Real-Time Video Processing Systems http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-7697 <p>In this thesis, both a method and a tool to enable efficient memory synthesis for real-time video processing systems on field programmable logic array are presented. In real-time video processing system (RTVPS), a set of operations are repetitively performed on every image frame in a video stream. These operations are usually computationally intensive and, depending on the video resolution, can also be very data transfer dominated. These operations, which often require data from several consecutive frames and many rows of data within each frame, must be performed accurately and under real-time constraints as the results greatly affect the accuracy of application. Application domains of these systems include machine vision, object recognition and tracking, visual enhancement and surveillance.</p><p>Developments in field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) have been the motivation for choosing them as the platform for implementing RTVPS. Essential logic resources required in RTVPS operations are currently available and are optimized and embedded in modern FPGAs. One such resource is the embedded memory used for data buffering during real-time video processing. Each data buffer corresponds to a row of pixels in a video frame, which is allocated using a synthesis tool that performs the mapping of buffers to embedded memories. This approach has been investigated and proven to be inefficient. An efficient alternative employing resource sharing and allocation width pipelining will be discussed in this thesis.</p><p>A method for the optimised use of these embedded memories and, additionally, a tool supporting automatic generation of hardware descriptions language (HDL) modules for the synthesis of the memories according to the developed method are the main focus of this thesis. This method consists of the memory architecture, allocation and addressing. The central objective of this method is the optimised use of embedded memories in the process of buffering data on-chip for an RVTPS operation. The developed software tool is an environment for generating HDL codes implementing the memory sub-components.</p><p>The tool integrates with the Interface and Memory Modelling (IMEM) tools in such a way that the IMEM’s output - the memory requirements of a RTVPS - is imported and processed in order to generate the HDL codes. IMEM is based on the philosophy that the memory requirements of an RTVPS can be modelled and synthesized separately from the development of the core RTVPS algorithm thus freeing the designer to focus on the development of the algorithm while relying on IMEM for the implementation of memory sub-components.</p>Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:28:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-7697Elisabeth LjungbergUngdomar, Utveckling och Utmaning : Studier av samhälls- och identitetsskapande processer i 1990-talets ungdomspolitik http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-8157 <p>Society and Identity- Developments and Challenges in Swedish Youth Politics in the 1990´s. There are many ways to describe and value young people’s interest and engagement in politics. While some defend extraparliamentarian activism as an important road to political engagement, others stress the need for young people to become familiar with the political system. These two contradictory views express a common concern for the importance of involving the young in the political process – this is an issue that the system has to deal with. Should the established political system affirm the youths’ active participation and desire to make a change? Is it possible to do this without a loss of respect for democracy? Is it possible to develop democracy without changing it radically Behind these questions, lies the deeper question about how the established democratic system, in practice in the state and municipalities, handle a) the political involvement of youths and b) the transmission of democratic values to new generations. Furthermore, these questions are based on the fundamental assumption that a democratic culture can only be communicated and upheld through processes of political socialization, where norms, knowledge and values are passed on from one generation to the next. In order for this particular kind of communication to succeed, it is crucial that people see their citizenship in a democratic society as an important part of their identity. One of the main functions of the democratic political system is to create and uphold identities and attitudes that are intimately connected to the system itself. Therefore, the political institutions are central actors in the communication process of political socialization. Communication is a paradoxical concept. It is a human activity that everyone is involved in, but few can define unambiguously. Professor James Carey, who analyses the concept in Communication as culture, essays on media and society (1989), introduced the idea of communication as ritual. Although broad in meaning, this definition highlights communication as central in the construction of both society and identity. Society exists and works through the communication between people and because we learn the codes of interaction that exist in the societal context: But, whatever the details of the production and reproduction of social life, it is through communication, through the intergraded relations of symbols and social structure, that societies, or at least those with we are most familiar, are created, maintained, and transformed. In this dissertation, the notion that communication is pivotal in the formation of both society and identities, is fundamental. Communication is the core of democratic development and the passing on of democratic values from one generation to the next. Political socialization is a question of communication processes. Objective and research questions The objective of this dissertation is to investigate how the main actors in the Swedish political system; the state and the municipalities, deal with processes of society- and identity formation. This is achieved through an analysis of the perspectives on political socialization that are expressed by these actors in youth politics in the 1990’s. Three main research questions are central in this dissertation: Do the state and the municipalities understand their role in the process of political socialization as mainly hierachical or interactive? How is the role of the youth construed by these actors? Are they seen as active or passive in the process of political socialization? Do these actors regard political socialization chiefly as a matter of continuation or as development? Over the years, political socialization research has generated different views on the youth, democracy development and the political system. Early research tended to regard the youth as a passive group in a hierarchical political system that acted mainly on behalf of it’s own preservation. This perspective saw political socialization as a matter of teaching the young to assimilate to the existing political system. Later research has shown that the process is more interactive than was previously thought: youths are influenced, but at the same time they also influence others. This shift in perspective raises questions of how the political system construes the process of political socialization, it’s own role in this process, the role the youth and ultimately; how democracy best can be developed. Conclusion The findings of the different studies in this dissertation show an overwhelmingly hierarchical construal of political socialization by the state and the municipalities. The idea of interactivity and development, advocated by later research, is only visible in some of the municipalities. Furthermore, youths are considered as having some political awareness, but this awareness needs to be cultivated through teaching. Therefore, youths are seen as passive receivers in the communicative process of political socialization – and not as active participants. At the same time, –on a rhetorical level–both the state and the municipalities express an ambition to create possibilities for youths to take responsibility and to find their own organizational solutions for political engagement. However, this dissertation also shows that this ambition is nowhere matched by any willingness to change the existing system, if that is what is required in order for the youth to develop own organizational solutions. The state regards the process of political socialization from a perspective of continuation and conservation. Youths are therefore mainly seen as a problem until they have reached a level of political awareness that allows them to function within the existing political system. The municipalities wants to get involved in the political socialization of youths through their “youth-councils”, but it is obvious that the main perspective is one of socialization into the existing political system. In order to be able to participate and have influence on decision-making, youths have to learn the form and the language required by the existing political system. It is not, according to the municipalities, the system that needs to change. The state and the municipalities consider youths as mouldable object that also have the ability to participate and shape society. When the states and municipalities’ assumptions about the youth’s political interests and enthusiasm do not correlate to the youth’s, the process of identity-formation becomes paradoxical. A hierarchical system meets young people who do not want to interact with the system. A system aimed at its own continuation and preservation of the existing order, that mainly aims to teach youths to fit into the system, will meet youths who want to create new forms of organizations. Therefore, when the state and municipalities in the ambition of socializing youths into the political system, shut the door to real participation and influence that would mean actual change and development, it is perhaps not so surprising that some youths canalize their political commitment through extraparliamentary activism. On a rhetorical level everyone applauds ideas of development of the political system. But in reality, the state and the municipalities regard this development as challenging when the suggested changes threatens the established order.</p>Mon, 12 Jan 2009 09:52:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-8157Liselott FlodénG-Convergence and Homogenization of some Sequences of Monotone Differential Operators http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-8935 <p>This thesis mainly deals with questions concerning the convergence of some sequences of elliptic and parabolic linear and non-linear operators by means of G-convergence and homogenization. In particular, we study operators with oscillations in several spatial and temporal scales. Our main tools are multiscale techniques, developed from the method of two-scale convergence and adapted to the problems studied. For certain classes of parabolic equations we distinguish different cases of homogenization for different relations between the frequencies of oscillations in space and time by means of different sets of local problems. The features and fundamental character of two-scale convergence are discussed and some of its key properties are investigated. Moreover, results are presented concerning cases when the G-limit can be identified for some linear elliptic and parabolic problems where no periodicity assumptions are made.</p>Thu, 14 May 2009 16:24:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-8935Ingela BäckströmOn the Relationship between Sustainable Health and Quality Management : Leadership and organizational behaviours from Swedish organizations http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-8985 <p>Sickness absence not only causes significant costs for organizations but also leads to other negative consequences for individuals and societies. Previous research has shown that working with organizational values within Quality Management affects job satisfaction and results in increased profitability and customer satisfaction. There would, in addition, seem to be great gains if managers, by working with Quality Management, can manage to establish sustainable health among co-workers.</p><p> </p><p>The purpose of the research described in this thesis was to examine how Quality Management could be practised in order to support sustainable health among co-workers and what it is within Quality Management that influences sustainable co-worker health. Accordingly, the purpose was also to contribute to the understanding of the relation between sustainable health and Quality Management. To fulfil this purpose, three research questions were asked. The results are described in three parts related to the three research questions and are the product of six case studies carried out in seven different organizations.</p><p> </p><p>Interviews with managers and workshops with co-workers were carried out to investigate how Quality Management can be practised within organizations in order to promote sustainable co-worker health. These investigations took place in four organizations that had received awards. Three had been awarded for their excellence in leadership, work environment and co-workership, along with improved profitability; one for its successful implementation of quality programmes. The results are descriptions of methodologies, behaviours, values and organization structure used by the organizations to support sustainable health. These are exemplified with practical examples. The methodologies, behaviours, values, and organizational structure are considered possible for other organizations to adopt and all of them are already supported in the quality, management and leadership literature. Support from the health literature is also found for most of the behaviours, methodologies, values, and organizational structure.</p><p> </p><p>Surveys and focus groups interviews were carried out in five different organizations in order to find out what is of most importance when practising Quality Management in order to influence sustainable co-worker health. The results pointed to ‘Leadership Commitment’ as the most central of the values for achieving sustainable health among the co-workers. Furthermore, the values ‘Continuous Improvements’, ‘Participation of Everybody’ and ‘Customer Orientation’ were found to be related to sustainable health among the co-workers. The values ‘Leadership Commitment’ and the value ‘Participation of Everybody’ were then further elaborated to find aspects of importance for sustainable co-worker health. From the value ‘Leadership Commitment’ four aspects were extracted. These were labelled ‘Empathy’, ‘Presence and Communication’, ‘Integrity’, and ‘Continuity’. The results showed relations between the value ‘Leadership Commitment’ within Quality Management and sustainable health among the co-workers. Thus it is essential for leaders to work in accordance with that value to achieve results in the work towards sustainable co-worker health. The results indicate that this requires management and leadership that are characterized by the aspects above. The leaders have to:</p><p> </p><p>• Really understand the co-workers and their work situation.</p><p>• Be present and available for co-workers and communicate with them.</p><p>• Act as a role model, be fair and keep their promises.</p><p>• Stay in their positions long enough to build up trust and confidence.</p><p> </p><p>The value ‘Participation of Everybody’ has also been shown to be related to sustainable health among the co-workers. This indicates that it is important to work in accordance with that value in the struggle to achieve sustainable health among the co-workers. The results imply that this value is characterized by the aspects ‘Development’, ‘Influence’ and ‘Being informed’. This could be done by:</p><p> </p><p>• Giving the co-workers opportunities to develop their skills and develop personally.</p><p>• Letting the co-workers influence their work situation and taking suggestions and proposals from them seriously.</p><p>• Having good communication within the whole organization.</p><p> </p><p>To manage this; the managers have to delegate more and empower the co-workers.</p><p> </p><p>These results were then further elaborated within another organization in order to develop a measurement approach that can clarify the extent to which the values, ‘Leadership Commitment’ and ‘Participation of Everybody’ permeate an organization. The developed measurement approach can be used to clarify the extent to which the organization is practising the health-promoting values within Quality Management and in what areas improvement is needed to increase co-worker health. The approach can also help the organization to detect those shortcomings within the management which are important for co-worker well-being. The developed measurement approach can be used to establish and enhance co-worker health by improving their well-being, satisfaction and motivation.</p>Wed, 27 May 2009 12:30:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-8985Magnus HummelgårdIn-situ TEM Probing of Nanomaterials http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-8998 <p>Nanomaterials because of their small size, may have special properties unlikely to be seen in ordinary types of materials. Nanomaterials like nanotubes,nanowires and nanoparticles are best studied at the nanoscale, vital but also problematic. In this thesis we use a transmission electron microscope (TEM)combined with a scanning tunneling microscope probe. This system allows TEM images to be captured and recorded into a movie together with recordedelectrical data for real time analysis. Using this method we found that the electrical conductivity of molybdenumbased nanowires Mo<sub>6</sub>S<sub>3</sub>I<sub>6</sub> can be improved by current induced transformation. This might be a general method of improving nanowires which is of high valueif the wires are to be used in electrical circuits or field emission devices. The bending modulus for these nanowires were also determined, by an electromechanical resonance method, to 4.9 GPa. The sintering phase of silver nanoparticles, used in electrical conductive ink for printing electrical circuits, were studied by the in-situ TEM probing method. We observed that percolation path ways are formed and that the dispersive agent of the particles can be pyrolysed into a net of carbon with characteristics similar to graphite. We also developed a method for decorating nanowires and nanotubes with gold nanoparticles. Nanowire particle composites are often used in assembling more complex devices (electronic circuits) or for linking to organic molecules (biosensor applications) and existing particle decoration methods are either difficult or with low yield. By in situ TEM probing we found that carbon nanocages can be grown onto these gold nanoparticles. The size of the gold nanoparticles is controllable an thus the size of the nanocages. These nanocages may be used in medicine- or hydrogen storage-applications.</p>Wed, 3 Jun 2009 12:54:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-8998Katarina Giritli Nygren"e" i retorik och praktik. : Elektronisk förvaltning i översättning. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-9585 <p>The overall purpose of this study is to contribute to the discussion of eGovernment implementation by making the implicit organisational micro dynamic processes involved in the framing and implementation of eGovernment explicit. I want to highlight the important process trough which eGovernment is framed and translated by organisational members and in what way it effects different divisions of practice. To do so, two different analytical aspects of organisational life, <em>the rhetoric of management </em>and <em>the reality of work practices</em> are used as a theoretical context for analysing some implications of eGovernment implementation. These analytical dimensions of organisational life are used to discuss a case study looking at the implementation of eGovernment in a local Swedish municipality.</p><p> </p><p>The main contribution of this thesis is a theorisation of how to understand the organisational micro dynamic processes involved in the implementation of eGovernment in public administration. New insights could be gained, for researchers and practioners, by analysing the transformation of practice as an ongoing process characterised by micro-political translation processes involving actors as well as actions and meanings in both rhetoric and practice.</p>Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:21:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-9585Claes MattssonDesign, Fabrication and Optimization of Thermal Radiation Detectors Based on Thin Polymer Membranes http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-9579 <p>The number of applications in which infrared radiation sensors are used is increasing. In some applications, the cost of the sensor itself is an issue, and simple solutions are thus required. In this thesis, the investigations have related to the use of thin polymer membranes in thermal infrared sensors, such as bolometers and thermopiles.</p><p>Infrared sensors are usually subcategorized into photonic sensors and thermal sensors. For detection of infrared radiation using a photodetector, there is a requirement for low band-gap material. The need of cooling makes infrared photodetectors rather expensive, and not an alternative for low-cost applications. In thermal sensors, the heat generated from the incident infrared radiation is converted into an electrical output by means of a heat sensitive element. Thermal sensors operate at room temperature, which makes them a low-cost alternative. The basic structure of thermal sensors consists of a temperature sensitive element connected to a heat sink through a structure with low thermal conductance. It is common to use thin membranes of Silicon or Silicon Nitride as thermal insulation between the heat sink and the sensitive element. In comparison, polymers have a thermal conductance that is lower than in these materials, and this increases the generated temperature in the sensitive element. A polymer such as SU-8 has a low thermal conductivity and is applied using a spin coater. This reduces the number of complex processing steps. This thesis presents a new application of SU-8 as a closed membrane in a thermal sensor.</p><p>The concept was initially demonstrated by fabricating a nickel bolometer and titanium/nickel thermopile structure with a 5 µm SU-8 / SiO<sub>2</sub> membrane. However, for the sensor responsivity to be able to compete with commercial thermal sensors the structures, some optimization was required. Since the thermopile generates its own voltage output and requires no external bias, the optimizations were focused on this structure. There exist a number available software tools for thermal simulation of components. However, to the author’s best knowledge, there exist no tool for design optimization of thermopiles with closed membranes. An optimization tool using iterative thermal simulations was developed and evaluated. A new thermopile structure, based on the optimization results, was both fabricated and characterized. Using an infrared laser with a small spot, the measured responsivity of the manufactured thermopile was higher than that of a commercial sensor. In the case of a defocused spot and for longer wavelengths, the infrared absorption in the absorption layer reduces and degrades the responsivity.</p><p>The thermopile was further evaluated as a sensor in a carbon dioxide meter application based on the NDIR principle. An increase in the CO<sub>2</sub> concentration demonstrated a clear decrease in the thermopile voltage response, as was expected. By normalizing the voltage response and comparing it with a commercial sensor, this showed that the SU-8 based thermopile is relatively more sensitive to changes in the CO<sub>2</sub> concentration.</p>Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:15:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-9579Sam LodinHolomorphic embeddings and applications http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-9634 <p>In the first part of this thesis we consider the question of the number of equivalence</p><p>classes of holomorphic embeddings of Ck into Cn. We show the existence of holomorphic</p><p>families of proper holomorphic embeddings of Ck into Cn (0 < k < n−1),</p><p>such that members of the family are pairwise nonequivalent in a suitable sense. As</p><p>an application we use these embeddings to deduce results in the theory of holomorphic</p><p>transformation groups.</p><p>In the second part of the thesis the question of plurisubharmonic extension is connected</p><p>to analytic discs, i.e. nonconstant holomorphic maps of the unit disc in C</p><p>into Cn. We derive results on plurisubharmonic extension for analytic polyhedra.</p>Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:37:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-9634Anneli SundqvistSearch Processes, User Behaviour and Archival Representational Systems http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-8821 <p>Information technology and political motives, e.g. e-governance, freedom of information legislation, has recent years lead to an increasing emphasis on users and access to records, but little research based knowledge about those issues exist so far. The main focus of the previous research is the use of non-current records in archival repositories. The aim of this thesis is to make a contribution to the research field, in order to gain a better understanding of the information behaviour of users of records in contemporary organizational settings. The research questions addressed are:</p><p>§ How are records used in contemporary organizations?- In what context and for what purposes are records used?- What user categories can be identified?</p><p>§ How is the search for records mediated?- What intermediaries are used in the search process?- How well do the features of the artefactual intermediaries serve the users' information needs?- What is the role of human intermediaries?</p><p>An additional purpose of the study is to contribute to theory development, and to provide a conceptual model of the information behaviour of users of records that can form the basis for further research.</p><p>The thesis is based on explorative case studies undertaken in two contemporary Swedish public organizations, one municipality and one governmental agency. Data was collected through interviews, analysis of documentary sources and complementary observations. The analysis of the findings was guided by a theoretical framework consisting of activity theory informed by concepts from archival theory and models of information behaviour.</p><p>The results of the cases studies showed that information behaviour of users of records and the search process could be described as a part of an activity system. The search process was a sub-ordinated activity of other activities. The needs for records was generated by a task or accomplishment of anykind with purpose to achieve something. Those needs motivated the purposes of use of records: material, operational, accountability seeking or knowledge enhancing purposes. The subjects, users in collaboration with the registrars and archivists, seeked to obtain records with help of different mediational means, e.g. artifactual intermediaries as the journal and the archives inventory that could be defined as representational systems, in order to reach a certain outcome: fact-finding, re-construction of past actions and events, regaining experience and knowledge, verifying status, or illustrating and exemplifying.</p><p>A variety of user groups, internal as well as external, could be identified in both organizations. Those could act as direct or indirect users, and indirect use by one part meant direct use by another who acted as a mediator between the records and the end users. The external users could be defined as stakeholders of the organizations or other users. Users showed, with occasional exceptions, a preference for informal means of mediation, particularly personal communication.</p><p>Certain features of the formal representational systems, journals and inventories, could be identified, which made them less useful as search tool. Those were generated by contradictions and tensions within the organizations: contradictions within the representational systems; contradictions between the tasks of the users and the representational systems; contradictions between user requests and the access points in the representational systems; contradictions between external users and the activities of the organizations; contradictions between exogenous institutional conditions and the the activities of the organizations; and contradictions of a temporal character. These circumstances necessitated an active intervention of human intermediaries. This could be seen as an example of the division of labour in the organizations. Search and retrieval of records were part of the registrars’ and the archivists’ specific professional knowledge, but were not considered as primary tasks of other employees or, especially not, of the external users.</p><p>The results of the study contributes to to the knowledge about the use of records, and how records are approached. It provides a model of the search process that can form the basis for further research. The practical implications of the findings could be improved search tools and user services, i.e. enhanced access. The thesis can also contribute to theoretical enrichment of the field by combining a more comprehensive social theory with archival theory and concepts from information science.</p><p> </p>Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:50:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-8821Karin HallinAtt vara sjuksköterska : En studie av sjuksköterskeprofessionen avseende omvårdnad, handledning och utveckling http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-8716 <p>Avhandlingens övergripande syfte var att klarlägga sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av sjuksköterskeprofessionen avseende omvårdnad, handledning och utveckling. Avhand‐lingen innefattar två kvalitativa (I, II) och två kvantitativa (III, IV) studier. Femton sjuksköterskor intervjuades sex år efter examen (I, II). Sjuksköterskorna var bland de första i Sverige med treårig sjuksköterskeutbildning. Handledare till sjuksköterske‐studenter i verksamhetsförlagd utbildning besvarade ett frågeformulär om handledning före/efter införd handledningsmodell (III, IV). I handledningsstudierna deltog 113 sjuksköterskor år 2000 (III) och 109 (III) respektive 142 (IV) sjuksköterskor år 2006. Svarsfrekvensen motsvarade ca 71% (III, IV). Innehållsanalys (I, II) och statistiska beräk‐ningar (III, IV) utfördes. Analysen visade att sjuksköterskor med treårig sjuksköterskeutbildning och sex års erfarenhet hade hittat sin nisch (II). Ingen ångrade sitt yrkesval. Många var under‐stimulerade samtidigt som de balanserade mellan påfrestning och stimulans (I) hinder och möjligheter (II). Flertalet var tveksamma till om de skulle orka arbeta fram till pensionsåldern (I, II). Inrättandet av en handledningsmodell som gav stöd till både sjuksköterskestudenter och handledare visade sig vara ett bra sätt i att organisera samverkan mellan handledare och lärare (III). Flertalet handledare var nöjda med det stöd de fått och upplevde säkerhet i handledarrollen (III). Emellertid, sjuksköterskor med och utan specialistutbildning värderade sjuksköterskestudenter olika (IV). Behovet av ett fokuserat lärande visades som ett mönster genom resultaten (I, II, III, IV). Avhandlingen visar genom resultaten att sjuksköterskor verkar i en komplex pro‐fession där det krävs skickliga sjuksköterskor för att klara det arbete sjuksköterskan är satt att sköta. För framgång i omvårdnad, handledning och utveckling är den lärande miljön central. En miljö där teori, praktik, forskning och reflektion vävs samman och där stöd, samverkan och professionell utveckling är ledstjärnor. Avhandlingen visar att en ökad samverkan mellan vårdverksamhet och universitet/högskola är nödvändig för att sjuksköterskeutbildningen och omvårdnadsarbetet skall kunna anpassas till hälso‐ och sjukvårdens ökade krav. Avhandlingens resultat kan användas som grund för fortsatta diskussioner med hänsyn till omvårdnadsvetenskap och beslut kring sjuksköterskans arbete såväl i utbildningssammanhang som i vårdverksamhet.</p>Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:22:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-8716Andreas LindHolomorphic automorphisms of Danielewski surfaces http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-10360 <p>In this thesis we define the notion of an overshear on a Danielewskisurface. Next we show that the group generated by the overshears is dense in the component of the identity of the automorphism group. Moreover, we show that the overshear group has a structure of an amalgamated product, and as consequence of this the overshear group is a proper subgroup of the automorphism group. Finally we classify the R^n-actions, and therefore the one parameter subgroups, of the overshear group. We also show that any Lie subgroup of an amalgamated product can be conjugated to one of the factors of the amalgamated product.</p>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:31:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-10360Rita SjöströmMultidisciplinary rehabilitation in musculoskeletal disorders : Quantitative and qualitative follow-up studies http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-10636 <p>The primary aim of this investigation was to evaluate a seven-week</p><p>multidisciplinary rehabilitation programme, with emphasis on</p><p>musculoskeletal disorders, for working-age people, by assessments at the</p><p>start and end of the rehabilitation programme, and at follow-up</p><p>examinations 6, 12 and 24 months after completion of the programme. A</p><p>further aim was to explore the experiences of people not returning to work</p><p>during a period of six years after participation in an extensive</p><p>multidisciplinary rehabilitation programme.</p><p>Sixty participants, 40 women and 20 men (mean age 46.8 ± SD 7.9), with</p><p>musculoskeletal disorders, mainly neck and back pain, participated in a 7-</p><p>week rehabilitation programme which was based on a combination of</p><p>theoretical and practical education, physical activities, relaxation and</p><p>individual guidance. Before and after the programme and at the follow-up</p><p>occasions all participants were evaluated with the Global Self-Efficacy</p><p>Index (GSI), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD), and Stress test</p><p>(Study I). A group of participants who were still full-time sick-listed (Group</p><p>I) at the end of the study period were compared with participants who were</p><p>part-time or not sick-listed (Group II) at the end of the study period (II, III,</p><p>IV). They were evaluated with the Disability Rating Index (DRI), with the</p><p>Pain Intensity Rating Index on a visual analogue scale (VAS) (II, III)),</p><p>mobility tests (III), GSI (III), HAD, and a stress test (IV). Seven women</p><p>(median age 48 years) and three men (53 years) (Group I) were interviewed</p><p>and the interviews were analysed by manifest content analysis (V).</p><p>At the 2-year follow-up full-time sick leave, anxiety, depression and selfexperienced</p><p>stress had decreased in both sexes. They also showed increased</p><p>quality of life (QoL) (I). In participants with full-time sick leave (Group I),</p><p>self-experienced physical disability and pain ratings were high and showed</p><p>no decrease up until the 2-year follow-up. In participants with part-time or</p><p>no sick leave (Group II), physical disability and pain ratings decreased</p><p>gradually throughout the 2-year follow-up period (II). Cervical and</p><p>thoracolumbar spine range of motion (ROM) was lower in Group I than in</p><p>Group II from the start of rehabilitation to a 2-year follow-up. Only Group</p><p>II showed a temporal improvement in ROM. No changes in DRI, VAS or</p><p>GSI were found in parallel with corresponding temporal changes in any of</p><p>the ROM (III). Group I experienced no change in anxiety or depression</p><p>during the study period, in contrast to Group II, in which this decreased.</p><p>Decreased stress was found in both groups (IV). Group I described</p><p>perceived barriers to and possibilities of returning to work, and also gave</p><p>information on what strategies they used, to cope with everyday life (V).</p><p>The majority of the participants improved and they continued to be</p><p>physically active, their QoL improved, and most participants returned to</p><p>work. Ten of the participants, however, were on full-time sick leave</p><p>throughout the whole study period, with high self-experienced physical</p><p>disability, high pain rating and no improvement in anxiety and depression.</p><p>They experienced barriers to re-entering the labour market as consequences</p><p>of physical symptoms and fatigue. But they also believed in possibilities of</p><p>returning to work if they could get a modified job adapted to their own</p><p>capacity.</p><p>Thus, persons with severe disability and pain did not improve by</p><p>rehabilitation in this project. New methods of treatment have to be</p><p>developed for improvement of symptoms resulting in reduction of</p><p>functional impairment and a consequent need for sick leave.</p>Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:53:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-10636Nils StenströmSprutbyte vid Intravenöst Narkotikamissbruk : En longitudinell studie av deltagarna i sprutbytesprogrammet i Malmö http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-49 <p>The aim of this thesis is to describe the users visiting the syringe exchange clinic in Malmö with respect to what characterises the group, how they utilize the services of the clinic and how their patterns of participation relate to risk behaviour, physical and mental health and social development. The heterogeneity of the group has been captured by the use of Stimsons dimensions “integration in majority society” and “involvement in sub-culture”, yielding four different groups of syringe exchangers: “stables”, “loners”, “two-worlders” and “junkies”. The study rests on two sources of data: a register from the clinic including all syringe exchangers that have visited the clinic between 1989 and 2003, altogether 3660 individuals, and an interview of visitors at the clinic during 1995, including 496 persons.</p><p>The results show that syringe exchangers, compared to other persons with severe addiction in Malmö, to a larger extent use amphetamine as their drug-of-choice, are older and inject more irregularly. The population visiting the clinic is heterogeneous with respect to integration in society and involvement in sub-cultures. The group classified as junkies do, as expected, display the highest inclination to share syringes and needles with other and hence have the most advanced risk behaviours. As to utilization of the programme, the results show that the longer the syringe exchangers stay in the programme, the more frequent they visit it. Also with respect to utilization-patterns, we find substantial variations within the studied group. Five categories are discernible: drop-in visitors with only one or two visits, sporadic visitors who in spite of contacts over a number of years never really establish a regular contact, intermittent visitors who have had contact over several years but display a very irregular visiting pattern, regular visitors who relatively fast establish a consistent contact with visits between uniform time intervals and frequent visitors who tend to stay longer than others and visit the clinic more often. Another aspect of utilization is to what extent the distribution of needles and syringes cover the needs of the visitors. With a strict definition of need, only a minority manages to cover their needs, but if we accept a more extensive individual re-use, around 90 percent of the average need is covered. Data also reveals that a very high proportion of the users on at least one occasion have visited the programme without syringe exchange taking place or any complementary service delivered. Basically these visits seem to be of a more social nature, reinforcing the contacts between the staff and the visitors.</p><p>Data do not give any clear support for the basic assumption that syringe exchange reduce the incidence of HIV or hepatitis. Recent sharing of utensils or low coverage of syringe need through the programme do not predict a higher infection risk. Instead we find that the social contacts with the staff (without syringe exchange) function as a predictor of lower incidence. This indicates that the mechanisms may be more complex than just related to the provision of clean needles and syringes. The result shows that integration increase over time while sub-cultural involvement decreases. However, the patterns for different groups are very diverse and we find no evidence that more frequent contacts as such are related to increased integration. There is however, some evidence that social visits are positively related to increased integration. No support could be found for the assumption that the programme increases the number of severe addicts.</p>Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:15:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-49Marianne OlssonG-Convergence and Homogenization of some Monotone Operators http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-94 <p>In this thesis we investigate some partial differential equations with respect to G-convergence and homogenization. We study a few monotone parabolic equations that contain periodic oscillations on several scales, and also some linear elliptic and parabolic problems where there are no periodicity assumptions. To begin with, we examine parabolic equations with multiple scales regarding the existence and uniqueness of the solution, in view of the properties of some monotone operators. We then consider G-convergence for elliptic and parabolic operators and recall some results that guarantee the existence of a well-posed limit problem. Then we proceed with some classical homogenization techniques that allow an explicit characterization of the limit operator in periodic cases. In this context, we prove G-convergence and homogenization results for a monotone parabolic problem with oscillations on two scales in the space variable. Then we consider two-scale convergence and the homogenization method based on this notion, and also its generalization to multiple scales. This is further extended to the case that allows oscillations in space as well as in time. We prove homogenization results for a monotone parabolic problem with oscillations on two spatial scales and one temporal scale, and for a linear parabolic problem where oscillations occur on one scale in space and two scales in time. Finally, we study some linear elliptic and parabolic problems where no periodicity assumptions are made and where the coefficients are created by certain integral operators. Here we prove results concerning when the G-limit may be obtained immediately and is equal to a certain weak limit of the sequence of coefficients.</p>Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:48:00 +0200http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-94Helena FjellströmInhibition of light-induced colour reversion of wood-containing papers by means of coating http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-95 <p>The main purpose of this thesis was to find ways to maintain a low level of light‐induceddiscolouration at an increased addition of mechanical and chemimechanical pulps in coated highqualityfine paper and magazine paper grades. Current technology allows the production of highyieldpulps such as thermomechanical and chemimechanical pulps with properties suitable formanufacturing high‐quality paper or paperboard with a low basis weight. Coating of woodcontainingpaper will probably be necessary for photo‐stability reasons if lignin‐containing pulps areto be used as the main fibre furnish in long‐life and high‐value products.In order to find the most suitable pulp for this purpose, light‐induced discolouration of a variety ofpaper samples from unbleached and bleached softwood and hardwood pulps was studied under bothaccelerated and long‐term ambient light‐induced ageing conditions. Hardwood high‐yield pulps,especially aspen pulps, were proven to be more photo‐stable compared to softwood pulps. Hardwoodpulps should therefore be the first choice for applications where a high permanence is desirable.Evaluating ageing characteristics using the CIELAB colour system showed that accelerated ageingconditions tend to mainly increase the b* value and decrease the L* value (i.e. yellow the pulp),whereas long‐term ambient ageing also increases the a* value, which makes the pulp more reddish.A new method for studying the influence of the UV‐screening properties of coating layers on abase paper was developed, and used to investigate the effect of pigment, pigment size distribution,binder and UV‐absorbing additives. The coat weight and pigment type were found to be the mostimportant factors for reducing the transmittance of UV‐radiation. Coating colours containing kaolinpigments had a lower UV‐transmittance than calcium carbonate pigments. Of the calcium carbonates,precipitated calcium carbonates were better than ground calcium carbonates and the difference wasgreater at higher coat weights. The particle size distribution should preferable be narrow. When thebest pigment (bleached kaolin) and the best binder (styrene butadiene latex) were combined withtitanium dioxide, the UV‐transmittance could be reduced by about 90% at a coat
