| 1. |
- Brodin, Eva, 1974-
(författare)
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Critical Thinking in Scholarship: : Meanings, Conditions and Development
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this thesis is to explore the phenomenon of critical thinking in scholarship as regards its meanings, conditions, and development using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. This exploration takes its departure in ancient Greece, following a historical movement of the phenomenon up to present day perspectives on critical thinking, revealing a range of different meanings and conditions. Thus, the reader is invited to follow my synthetic meaning constitution of the phenomenon of critical thinking as it appears in different philosophical and educational texts. Through this gradual process of meaning constitution it is shown that the scholarly critical thinker is in one way or another concerned with abstract relationships, in order to either master, understand, or change the world. These underlying interests may, in turn, be derived from the critical thinker’s sense of responsibility towards God, nature, society, and humanity as a whole. It also appears that even though critical thinking in scholarship is traditionally framed within rational and principle based thinking, the development of the meaning of critical thinking is on its way to new dimensions. Besides rationality, other qualities of critical thinking are highlighted, such as reflective thinking, emotions, creativity, imagination, and intuition. Despite the fact that research on critical thinking has started to move in new directions, educational policy documents implicitly conceptualize critical thinking in traditional terms. This means that the phenomenon is captured within its own instrumentality, with no further concern for its possible ends. The same circumstance can be noted in relation to contemporary perspectives on critical thinking, which tend to focus on the process of critical thinking, since critical thinking is implicitly understood as an assurance of attaining normatively good ends. However, critical thinking is a phenomenon that is future oriented, involving its intention and possible ends. Against this background, it is therefore argued that critical thinking receives its most critical feature when intention, process and end constitute a constructive interrelated whole.
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| 2. |
- Fagerström, Cecilia
(författare)
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LIFE SATISFACTION AND FEELING HINDERED BY HEALTH PROBLEMS AT 60 YEARS AND ABOVE
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis was to investigate how older people's capacity to perform activities of daily living (ADL), health, social and financial resources, and self-esteem can be related to their life satisfaction. The aim was also to investigate how people feel hindered by health problems in relation to their ADL capacity, health problems, social and financial resources, self-esteem, sense of coherence, and life satisfaction. The thesis focused on people 60?96 years of age in six European countries, living at home. The data were collected in two cross-sectional studies, using standardised self-reported questionnaires and a medical examination. The first study (papers I, II and III) included people in six European countries (Sweden, the UK, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, and Italy) who participated in the European Study of Adult Well-being (ESAW) in 2001 to 2002. Paper I included people (n = 7699) aged 60?89 in all six countries, Paper II included people with reduced ADL capacity (n = 2195), and Paper III included people living in Sweden (n = 1297) with at least one health problem. In the ESAW, questions from the Older Americans Resources and Services schedule, (OARS), the Life Satisfaction Index Z (LSIZ) and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale were used. The other study (Paper IV) included people (n = 958) aged 60?96 years of age who participated in a baseline survey in one of the four centres (Blekinge) of the longitudinal multi-centre cohort study named The Swedish National study on Aging and Care (SNAC) in 2001. Established questions and instruments were used to collect the data, and quantitative descriptive statistics, comparative statistics and multiple regressions were used when analysing the data. In all ESAW country samples, factors such as feeling hindered by health problems, low social and financial resources, and low self-esteem played a crucial role in creating conditions for low life satisfaction. It is also possible to identify both common and country-specific factors influential for life satisfaction in the six European countries. The analysis furthermore revealed that personal as well as environmental factors were important, though personal factors were more important for life satisfaction than environmental factors among people with impaired ADL capacity. Among those with impaired ADL capacity in the six national samples, people afflicted by poor overall health and people who were feeling worried and had low self-esteem suffered an increased risk of low life satisfaction in all countries. At the same time, social and financial resources had an impact on life satisfaction in four countries. Results suggest that self-esteem and perceived health are of universal importance for life satisfaction irrespective of ADL capacity, and these phenomena are thus essential to target in health care interventions. Furthermore, feeling hindered by health problems in daily living, rather than the impairment in ADL capacity, appears to increase the risk for low life satisfaction. In addition to this, people felt hindered by their problems although they had excellent ADL capacity. Several factors contributed to people feeling hindered, and the importance of these factors differed according to the level of the ADL capacity of the individual. The results suggest that people seemingly re-evaluate the importance of their resources when health declines, making certain activities in daily life more important than others.
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| 3. |
- Golub, Koraljka
(författare)
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Automated Subject Classification of Textual Documents in the Context of Web-Based Hierarchical Browsing
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With the exponential growth of the World Wide Web, automated subject classification has become a major research issue. Organizing web pages into a hierarchical structure for subject browsing has been gaining more recognition as an important tool in information-seeking processes.The most frequent approach to automated classification is machine learning. It, however, requires training documents and performs well on new documents only if they are similar enough to the former. In the thesis, a string-matching algorithm based on a controlled vocabulary was explored. It does not require training documents, but instead reuses the intellectual work invested into creating the controlled vocabulary. Terms from the Engineering Information thesaurus and classification scheme were matched against text of documents to be classified. Plain string-matching was enhanced in several ways, including term weighting with cut-offs, exclusion of certain terms, and enrichment of the controlled vocabulary with automatically extracted terms. The final results were comparable to those of state-of-the-art machine-learning algorithms, especially for particular classes. Concerning web pages, it was indicated that all the structural information and metadata available in web pages should be used in order to achieve the best automated classification results; however, the exact way of combining them proved not to be very important.In the context of browsing, the biggest difference between three approaches to automated classification (machine learning, information retrieval, library science) is whether they use controlled vocabularies. It has been claimed that well-structured, high-quality classification schemes, such as those used predominantly in library science approaches, could serve as good browsing structures. In the thesis it was shown that Dewey Decimal Classification and Engineering Information classification scheme are suitable for the task. Moreover, a log analysis of a large web-based service using Dewey Decimal Classification demonstrated that browsing is used to a much larger degree than searching.The final conclusion is that an appropriate controlled vocabulary, with a large number of entry vocabulary designating classes, could be utilised in automated classification. If the same controlled vocabulary has an appropriate hierarchical structure, it could at the same time provide a good browsing structure to the automatically classified collection of documents.
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| 4. |
- Gustafsson, Tommy, 1969-
(författare)
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En fiende till civilisationen : manlighet, genusrelationer, sexualitet och rasstereotyper i svensk filmkultur under 1920-talet
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The setting for this study is Swedish film culture of the 1920s, which has been studied with a focus on representations of masculinity and gender relations according to four themes: 1) children and youth 2) fatherhood and love 3) sexuality and popularity 4) ethnicity and racial stereotyping. The rise of new consumer culture in the first decades of the 20th century created turmoil between traditional and modern values, not least when it came to conceptions of gender. Studies on masculinity have often directed its efforts towards writing a history of ideals, bound by the concept of hegemonic masculinity; a concept that exclude women as insignificant for the social construction of masculinity. One ambition with this thesis has been to counter the long-lasting concept of hegemonic masculinity, and in the process, try to build a bridge between men and women studies. One other ambition has been question the canonisation of the “Golden Age” of Swedish silent filmmaking by introducing the concept of “the pluralism of film”, and by using a vast material including: Swedish feature films, reviews, articles from fan magazines and trade paper, screen plays, censorship cards, official reports, etc; thereby circumventing the concept of film as “art” in order to focus on film as representation in a more reliably way. One conclusion is the revelation of the diversity that surrounds social constructions of masculinity and gender relations in both film culture and society. In addition, Swedish film of the 20s hardly contained any male characters that upheld the hegemonic ideal, giving way to a more prominent presence of strong female characters, often in the shape of the New Woman. Women did as well have a great influence on the formation of masculinity. However, a notion of a Swedish normative masculinity became visible when contrasted with numerous racial stereotypes, such as malicious representations of Black people and Travellers. The emphasis on gender relations, rather than on ideals, has also contributed to a wider understanding of gender, where criteria such as generation, class, ethnicity and sexuality ought to be included. When it comes to the canonisation of the “Golden Age”, a strong notion exists about the integrated use of nature in film narratives as being a Swedish national trait, when in fact this could be linked only to a few films. If one would point out a trait that permeates Swedish film of the 1920s, it would not be the use of nature, but instead the flagrant racism and xenophobia.
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| 5. |
- Helgason, Jon
(författare)
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Hjärtats skrifter : en brevkulturs uttryck i korrespondensen mellan Anna Louisa Karsch och Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation examines the correspondence of the 18th-century German authors Anna Louisa Karsch and Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim. The main emphasis of the present study is to demonstrate how readings of Karsch's and Gleim's correspondence shed light on epistolary culture. Particular attention is paid to the notion of epistolary culture as a relatively unrestrained ?experimental setting? for bourgeois social roles and models. The correspondence of Karsch and Gleim is seen as particularly relevant, because it displays and highlights a number of significant transitional phenomena concerning aesthetics, ethics and gender-roles in late 18th-century Germany. This involves, among other things, aspects of a pre-romantic aesthetics of expression, which is manifested in the ?natural style? of epistolary culture. The first chapter contains an analysis of the letter as a specific mode of communication. This includes an examination of the oral legacy of the letter as well as of the classical idea that the letter, more than any other written form, expresses the writer's ?inner self?. The second chapter focuses on role play as an integral part of epistolary culture. The role play is regarded as an instrument of socialisation, and Karsch's role persona ?Sappho? and this role's function in the correspondence with Gleim are analysed from this perspective. The following chapter depicts the so-called ?crisis in the code of communication?, a theory developed by German sociologist Niklas Luhmann and often used to describe the semantic difficulties in expressing deep interpersonal feelings around the middle of the 18th century. This frequently qouted and rephrased hypothesis is tested in relation to the expressions of love and friendship found in the letters. These expressions of love and friendship are studied against the backdrop of the so-called ?cult of friendship? of mid 18th-century Germany. The fourth chapter deals with the autobiographical letters of Anna Louisa Karsch. These letters are considered crucial to the contemporary 18th-century reception of Karsch, as the letters formed the basis for Johann Georg Sulzer's biographical introduction to Karsch's Auserlesene Gedichte. The autobiographical letters are scrutinized by means of several dichotomies, such as public/private and construction/authenticity. Special attention has been paid to how Karsch uses the concept of ?nature? as well as biblical modes of reading and of identification, and to how Karsch's use of these value-laden concepts converge towards the idea of a pre-romantic aesthetics of inspiration and genius.
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| 6. |
- Myrvold, Kristina
(författare)
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Inside the Guru's Gate : Ritual Uses of Texts among the Sikhs in Varanasi
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Summary: For religious Sikhs, the Guru Granth Sahib is a holy scripture which enshrines ontologically divine words and the teaching and revelatory experiences of historical human Gurus. Simultaneously the Sikhs have taken the concept of a sacred scripture much further than any other religious community by treating the Guru Granth Sahib as a living Guru invested with spiritual authority and agency to guide humans and establish relationships to the divine. Wherever the Sikhs have settled in the world today the scripture is staged at the center of their congregational life. The Sikh place of worship - a gurdwara or the Guru's gate - is by definition a space in which Guru Granth Sahib is made present to run a daily court. The scripture is installed daily on an elevated throne like a royal sovereign who/which admits worshippers and at nightfall ceremonially taken to a special bedroom for rest. In religious services the Sikhs daily recite and sing hymns of the scripture and explore its semantic inner for guidance in their social life. Considering the significations of Guru Granth Sahib, as a living Guru of the Sikhs, it is surprising that scholars have paid considerably little attention to religious attitudes, behaviors and acts surrounding the physical scripture and the living performance traditions of orally rendering and exploring its content. "Inside the Guru's Gate: Ritual Uses of Texts among the Sikhs in Varanasi" aims to direct the focus towards a deeper understanding of contemporary religious worship and oral performance traditions in Sikhism. Based on field work in a Sikh congregation at Varanasi (Northern India), the study investigates how local Sikhs perceive, use and interact with the Guru Granth Sahib and other religious texts accredited gurbani status, i.e. words being uttered by their human Gurus, through a wide spectrum of practices. From the perspective of ritual and anthropological theories, the study analyzes the discursive and ritual means by which local Sikhs create and confirm conceptions of the Guru's presence and agency in the world. Local discourses on the Guru Granth Sahib situate the scripture in a web of relationships - onto-theological relationships to the invisible divine, historical relationships to the human Gurus, and social relationships to contemporary disciples - that legitimize both its worldly and otherworldly identity and power. By arranging spaces and enacting ritual acts in the gurdwara, the Sikhs enmesh the Guru Granth Sahib in daily routines and stage the scripture as a worldly sovereign with capacity to provide spiritual guidance, transmit the divine revelation it enshrines, and make it possible for devotees to gain spiritual knowledge and experiences. Since Guru Granth Sahib belongs to a succession line of human Gurus it has inherited anthropomorphic habits and even has its own life-cycle rituals that mark important events and stages in the worldly life of the text. The study argues that ritual uses of the Guru Granth Sahib and the living performance traditions of mediating the scriptural words are the means by which the Sikhs personify and bring the scripture to life, as an agentive Guru, and make its teaching perpetually alive and relevant to changing contexts in a human and socially conditioned world. To develop and sustain a devotional and didactical relationship, even a social relationship, to the scripture is what makes people Sikhs - disciples of the Guru.
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| 7. |
- Rosenqvist, Johanna
(författare)
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Könsskillnadens estetik? Om konst och konstskapande i svensk hemslöjd på 1920- och 1990-talen
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The main objective of this PhD thesis, "An Aesthetics of Sexual Difference? On Art and Artistry in Swedish Handicraft of the 1920s and 1990s", is to investigate the field of handicraft in relation to a wider field of cultural production. Its aim is to contribute to a mapping of interrelated outlines of handicraft and art based on empirical studies of artistic creation in two local Swedish handicraft organizations during the modernism of the 1920s and the postmodernism of the 1990s. Aesthetics is here seen as notions about expressions of art and limits for artistic creation, thus not as separated from ideas about gender differences but rather as dependent on them. This implies a social practice in which boundaries between institutional practices and individuals are created in relation to each other over time. A theoretical starting point is formed in gender studies, with reference to Luce Irigaray's An Ethics of Sexual Difference (1984). The critical imperative that lies in questioning what difference it makes if a work of art is made by a woman, comes from feminist art historians like Marsha Meskimmon, while Pierre Bourdieu's sociological theories about the fields of art has inspired the discussion of distinctions between handicraft and art. Comparisons are made between Swedish handicraft and its international counterparts, where concepts like ?Folk art? and ?ornament? are investigated and the Art Déco-exhibition in Paris 1925 forms a point of departure. Methodologically the two case studies include analysis of individual artworks as well as the artist's context, based on archival research. Aesthetics of sexual difference is not evident in individual works of handicraft but rather in their being organized differently as compared to art. More importantly: difference has been maintained through the way of writing about the works ? or rather not writing about them ? and their creators. From the case study of the 1920s it is concluded that textile handicraft production was part of modernist aesthetics. But rather than being seen as individual innovators, as would modernist artists, women who produced handicraft were looked upon as representatives of a tradition and therefore not always mentioned by name. This ran partly counter to contemporary laws that strengthened the right of designers. Ideologically, however, it fitted the prevailing complementary gender order to have the female-dominated handicraft organization differently structured from the male-dominated professional field of art. In the 1990s an eclectic attitude towards tradition was a key element in postmodernist aesthetics and transgressing of genres was legion, in handicraft as well as in the arts. During the decade, handicraft was exhibited in several shows, for example at the Liljevalchs art gallery in Stockholm. Compared to the earlier period, individual artists within the handicraft organization were more visible. Parallel to an ideological and statutory work for gender equality, the number of men in the organization increased, as did the use of materials traditionally thought of as masculine, and focus was now on the making of ?sloyd? instead of earlier emphasized connections to household production and the home.
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| 8. |
- Ulmestig, Rickard
(författare)
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På gränsen till fattigvård? : En studie om arbetsmarknadspolitik och socialbidrag
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation focuses on changes in labour market policies that were provided for unemployed recipients of social assistance between 1989 and 2002 in Sweden. This change is described as a process where the municipalities gradually take greater responsibility for the labour market policies. This group of unemployed is categorized as a particularly problematic group and has been referred to the municipalities. This takes place without any noticeable legislative change or policy decisions and is contrary to the appropriation directions that the government has given to the Labour Market Board. In this process responsibility has ?trickled? through to the municipalities. The process that is described and analyzed in this dissertation is a process that shows how unemployed recipients of social assistance gradually become a municipal responsibility. This entails amongst other things that the unemployed will continue to live off social assistance. The boundary between the government and the municipalities has changed between 1989 and 2002. Categories of unemployed who are adjudged to have great problems in establishing themselves in the labour market are referred to the municipalities. For those unemployed who are established within the unemployment insurance system and who do not need social assistance, there are no major institutional changes. This is ultimately a question of power. While the labour movement safeguards the interests of the unemployed within the unemployment insurance system the recipients of social assistance have few or none who safeguard their interests. Unemployed recipients of social assistance are referred to the municipal system that still has distinctive features from the poor relief period. They are provided with a labour market policy that differs in several essential aspects from the labour market policies that are part of the Swedish welfare state. They are provided with a labour market policy that is bordering on poor relief.
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| 9. |
- Wirandi, Jenny
(författare)
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Modelling and Validation of Industrial Measurement Systems - Aspects of Quality and Human Factors
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Although there is a fairly large number of books and articles concerning the validation of technical measurement systems, there are only a few which take into account the whole measurement system consisting of both technical and non-technical aspects. A measurement system comprises both the measurement process and the human being who conducts the measurement. In this way, the human being may be a part of the initiating process (e.g. sampling), and/or part of the ongoing process (such as manual handling of the sample). The human being, however, is always a part of the final process, where the results are interpreted. The purpose of this thesis is to validate industrial measurement systems, including both technical and non-technical aspects of these systems, in order to understand them better and to increase the ability to estimate the quality of the product. In order to do so, a general method that estimates a quality index capable of handling both qualitative and quantitative factors is proposed. The suggested method uses a fuzzy neural network as a tool since such a tool has a learning function that allows the integration of the human judgement of quality into a quantitative index. This method thus constitutes a promising starting point for the future development of a representative quality index based on both quantitative and qualitative factors. Such an index may be able to allow better comparison of different products or services. Part I of this thesis gives a brief overview of the research methods used, the research areas investigated, and the theory behind this field. This thesis consists of eight papers, presented in Part II. The papers discuss, among other things, the role of the human being in automated measurement systems, problems that occur when implementing advanced measurement concepts to modern industries, automated control of sensors and quality assessments.
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