| 1. |
- Achen, Thomas, 1964-
(författare)
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Den bioetiske udfordring : Et retspolitisk studie om forholdet mellem etik, politik og ret i det lovforberedende arbejde vedrørende bio- og genteknologi i Danmark, Norge og Sverige
- 1997
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Biotechnology and genetic engineering raise a number of new ethical problems. Consequently, over the past 15 years, several European countries, including the Nordic countries, have passed new laws in an attempt to deal with the ethical problems posed by biotechnology. These developments raise the question of how to formulate legislation to regulate both the technical and ethical aspects of biotechnology and genetic engineering. Is it indeed possible to formulate a valid ethical framework in a thoroughly secularised society? How has this been coped with politically? And what is the nature of the relationship between ethics, politics and the law, that emerges from this process? The regulation of biotechnology is very often carried out by legal means in modern society. The thesis shows that the distinction between ethics, politics and the law - inherent in the Scandinavian tradition of legal realism - is not sustained in the law preparatory Process in the fields of biotechnology and genetic engineering in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The analysis reveals that the tendency for ethics, politics and the law to merge is expressed in the new normative reflexivity which characterizes legislation in this area. The thesis defines this process in terms of four elements: a proceduralisation of ethics, a democratisation of ethics; negotiated development of norms, and a moralisation of politics and the law. These new tendencies suggest a need for a new analytical framework. The thesis argues that reflexive law theory and discourse ethics theory can provide a more adequate understanding of the new normative reflexivity inherent in the legislation examined. In a society characterised by moral, social, cultural and political pluralism it is of profound importance to contemplate how legal and political norms are developed. Furthermore, it is highly pertinent to consider how we can conceive these processes in theoretical terms.
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| 2. |
- Adelswärd, Viveka, 1942-
(författare)
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Styles of success : On impression management as collaborative action in job interviews
- 1988
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The research reported in this study takes both a general descriptive approach - investigating the characteristics of 48 job interviews - and a comparative one - analyzing ways in which those who got a job offer differed from those who did not. Data used in this study are tape recordings of job interviews with applicants for trainee-positions with a large Swedish business corporation. Additional data are tape-recordings of post-interviews made by the researcher with the applicants as well as questionnaires from the interviewers.The theoretical nations of self presentation and impression management (Goffman) have been the main points of departure for this study. All communication invalves impression,management. but job interviews focus explicidy on this aspect of interaction. Job interviews can be seen as argumentations where the applicants are actively trying to support their claim that they are perfect for the job. Their argumentations are enacted in a dialogue, however, and the applicants' ways of arguing are thus dependent on the interviewers' contributions to the dialogue. Communication is a constant handling of conflicting demands. The particular solution to these conversational dilemmas manifests itself as a personal style.Three main empirical analyses of the data were performed. The first concemed itself with the structure of the job interview. What does it look like and how is it managed? The analyses show that the responsibility for maintaining the global structure lies almost completely with the interviewer, hut that the applicant has the responsibility for managingthe local structure, for feeding interesting detalls in to the interview.The second set of analyses was concerned with the ways in which the applicants actively argued for themselves. The results show that the successful applicants qualify their claims more forcefully, by modifications, explicit analysis or humour, for instance. The successfulapplicants also receive more interactive assistance from the interviewers.The third set of analyses aimed at investigating some aspects of the interactive elimate in relation to the interviewers' different interviewing styles. The ways in which the interviewers paused and used simultaneous talk had a decisive influence on the length of the applicants' answers. The interactive element of interviewing was once more demonstrated in the analysis of laughter; in the interviews with the successful applicants there was more mutual laughter than in the interviews with the nonsuccessful applicants. The different interviewers' styles were recognized and described accurately by the applicants hut were valued differently.The main significance of the study is the demonstration of the interactive element in dialogue. The interviewers are in a certain sense actively creating the grounds on which they are to base their decision to hire the applicants or not.
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| 3. |
- Alm, Håkan, 1968-
(författare)
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External relations in the product development process : a study of biotechnology firms in Sweden
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how and why firms use external relations and collaboration in the innovation process. These issues are discussed at both industry and firm levels. Both transaction cost economics and evolutionary/competence-based theories of the firm have been used and combined in order to understand and explain how and why external relations and collaboration are related to product development processes. These issues are rooted in the broader question concerning what determines the boundaries of firms. The empirical case material focuses on biotechnology-related human health care in Sweden.The empirical part of this study starts with a mapping of Swedish-based biotechnology firms involved in R&D. A database (BioSweden) was built in order to identify these firms' patterns of external relations. These patterns and fmdings are then related to a theoretical discussion about whether different types of firms develop different paths and patterns of external relations depending on differences in characteristics in technology and markets.These issues have also been investigated at the firm level, using a multiple-case study of 15 biotechnology firms. In this part the firms' origin and development over time are studied in order to shed more light onto how and why product development processes are related to in-house R&D and different types of external relations.The findings indicate that choices about governance modes related to product development are influenced by internal capabilities, resources, and competencies as well as technological and markets characteristics. It has also been shown that such choices are strongly influenced by firms' capabilities to interact with other organizations.
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| 4. |
- Alm, Maria
(författare)
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Nationell kraft och lokal motkraft : En diskursanalys av konflikten kring SwePol Link
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Facility siting conflicts are increasing in our society. This is a study of a HVDC-link between Blekinge, Sweden and Slupsk, Poland called The SwePol Link. This link has transferred electricity between the two electricity systems since the year 2000 and the decision making process can be described as a struggle between conflicting interests. The aim of this study is to investigate where in the decision making process conflicting interests become visible, and how the actors involved have acted and argued in order to try to influence the process to benefit their respective causes. This aim is further developed through a discourse analysis of the variety of arguments, ideas and conceptions that in different situations of the process construct patterns and statements. The purpose of the discourse analysis is to identify and categorize patterns and statements that are expressed in three chosen practices; the concession practice, the court practice and the practice concerning the debate articles and editorials published in Blekinge Läns Tidning during the period 1996-2000. This practice is referred to as the mass media practice in the study. It is clear that the conflict deepens and that the system-builders and critical actors (including Blekinge Läns Tidning) started to distrust each other and their respective ways of acting during the process. Both supporters and critics used scientific and juridical enrolments in order to try to strengthen their positions in the conflict. Both scientifically and juridically formulated arguments were central patterns in the discourse. This was also the case with technically formulated arguments. These patterns of arguments were mainly expressed through academics, or experts, for or against the system and might thereby be looked upon as rather exclusive ways of arguing in the practices. One exception from this was, for example, when fishers argued against different scientific results on the basis of their experiences. This was, however, not a very successful way of criticizing scientific results. The study shows that there, for example, were conflicts around the meaning of a sustainable energy system, where a central system-builder pattern meets a peripheral systemcritical pattern and both sides held themselves as arguing for a sustainable energy system. Another result of the study is that the discourse varied depending on which practice it was expressed in. It became clear that holistic perspectives regarding a sustainable energy system or the landscape as such became peripheral in all of the “formal” practices, where the decisions regarding the system took place. These types of holistic patterns were mainly articulated in other practices like the mass media.
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| 5. |
- Alzén, Annika, 1946-
(författare)
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Fabriken som kulturarv : Frågan om industrilandskapets bevarande i Norrköping 1950-1985
- 1996
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This PhD dissertstion deals with the interest on preserving the heritage from the industrial society which arouse in Sweden during the 1970s.The remains from the industrial scoiety initially had difficulties in asserting themselves as objects of value, due to a number of inhibiting factors which excluded industry as a cultural heritage. In the 1970s, however, several factors can be distinguished which changed this situation. These factors included a new post-industrial era, the radicalisation of the cultural and political climate, extensive demolition in the heart of the Swedish cities, the influence of industrial archeology in England and a growing interest on the part of the antiquarian profession. In the long term, this meant that the discourse about cultural heritage changed so that industry could be included as a part of it.In Norrköping the old textile industries in the middle of the city were transformed from an outdated factory area to an attractive industrial landscape during the 1970s and 1980s. Some of the reasons, analysed in the dissertation, can be summarised as follows. First, the industrial area was "discovered" by pioneers who had been influenced by the industrial movement in England. Second, the industrial area had architecturally valuable buildings so that it could be regarded as an area worth preserving even according to traditional selection criteria. Third, the opening of the Museum of Work in the area influenced the survival of the industrial landscape. Through the Museum of Work, the expanding social movement "gräv där du står-rörelsen" ("the digging movement") also exerted an indirect influence on the process. Hence, it was a combination of different factors which resulted in the preservation of the industrial landscape in Norrköping.
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| 6. |
- Andersson, Anita, 1961-
(författare)
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Estetik på klinik : Den estetiska kirurgins legitimerande retorik
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation deals with how esthetic surgery as a phenomenon and as a pursuit has been constructed to attain cultural legitimacy, that is, how esthetic surgery has been presented, advocated, and shaped so as to make it seem a possible, reasonable, acceptable, and meaningful practice in the contemporary culture and in people-s lives. Temporally, the study period ranges from the early 1980s to the early 2000s. During that period, esthetic surgery made its breakthrough in Sweden as a practical pursuit and as a cultural phenomenon. Cultural legitimacy is a pivotal concept in the study. It is used here to denote that a pursuit or a phenomenon - in this case esthetic surgery - has attained a status in the public discourse that makes it seem conceivable and acceptable. In this dissertation, I study how this cultural legitimacy is established through expressions in media. I analyze the work of construction that is leading to esthetic surgery reaching that position from a focus on the rhetoric of legitimization, that is, how esthetic surgery is talked about so that cultural legitimacy can be attained. It is a matter of appealing to the public so that esthetic surgery is accepted as a body modification practice, available and relevant to everyone. The work with the material showed that creating justification, appeal, and credibility plays a prominent role in this construction. The promise inherent in esthetic surgery has to be presented as realistic and realizable, while simultaneously referring to culturally anchored values and defining these as associated with esthetic surgery. In this process justification, appeal and credibility have been linked to such dominating values as freedom, health and naturalness.
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| 7. |
- Andersson, Fräs Annika, 1974-
(författare)
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Determination of Volatile Sulfur Compounds in Air and other Gas Matrices : Development and Applications of Solid-Phase Microextraction
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Volatile sulphur compounds (VSCs) are frequently emitted during bioindustrial activities, such as production of biogas, sewage treatment, landfilling, pulpmilling, and the slaughtering of animals and meat processing. VSCs are reactive and malodorous, and they can also be detrimental to human health, therefore it is of great interest to be able to analyze these compounds.However, the standard techniques that are now available for determination of VSCs entail detection limits that in some cases exceed the odor thresholds, and, what is more, they require the use of solvents and toxic reagents. In addition, a single standard method does not exist that can be used to analyze all the VSCs that are most often associated with bioindustrial processes.In the present studies, a technique based on solid-phase microextraction (SPME) was developed for analysis of the VSCs that are commonly found in the bioindustry. The method could even be applied to very complex gas matrices representing point-source emissions of these compounds in amounts below their odor thresholds. Furthermore, the procedure constitutes an improvement compared to the other techniques employed to determine VSCs, because SPME is less time-consuming, it does not require the use of solvents or other chemicals, and it can extract all the compounds simultaneously. The potential of applying SPME for time-weighted average sampling of VSCs was also investigated. These experiments showed that the connnercially available fiber coating with the highest affmity for VSCs (i.e., Carboxen-polydimethylsiloxane)could achieve accurate determination of dimethyldisulfide, whereas use of thatcoating to collect the other compounds was highly influenced by externalparameters that are subject to variation. This work also included investigationsof several important aspects of SPME analysis of VSCs, such as the choice offiber coating, artifact formation, and the impact of various parameters on theextraction.The current results demonstrate that the SPME methodology that was developed can be used to determine VSCs in different matrices and contexts within the bioindustry. More precisely, the technique was successfully employed for the following purposes: to determine background levels ofVSCs to which workers were exposed; to monitor VSC emissions during the biogas process; to supervise the quality of produced biogas; to investigate the efficiency of processes used for abatement of VSCs; and to ascertain the cause of odor problems.
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| 8. |
- Andersson, Fredrik, 1961-
(författare)
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The international diffusion of new chemical entities : A cross-national study of the determinants of differences in drug lag
- 1990
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The two main objectives of this thesis are to make a general contribution to the understanding of the international diffusion of new chemical entities (NCEs) and to improve the research methods by applying econometric methodology.The study is based on a data base including all 553 NCEs introduced in Sweden during the period 1960-1987 and their introductions in France, West Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and Norway. A complementary data base covering 11 countries for the period 1970-1983 is also examined.Large differences are found between the countries regarding the diffusion of NCEs - both in the number of NCEs that are diffused to the countries (level of diffusion) and in the time needed for the NCEs to diffuse (rate of diffusion). There is also a general tendency for an increasing amount of time to be needed for the NCEs to diffuse. Econometric methodology is applied in the search for the determinants of the rate of diffusion. The three earlier models of the rate of diffusion are all rejected and two new models are constructed, one Swedish and one international. In these models the regulation-related variables are found to have the largest influence on the rate of international diffusion of NCEs.At the end of the thesis, policy implications of the results and prospects for the future are discussed.
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| 9. |
- Andersson, Helena M., 1973-
(författare)
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The physiological impact of soccer on elite female players and the effects of active recovery training
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Female soccer is becoming more popular and professional in the world. There are, however, limited scientific data available on how elite female players respond to physical stress during soccer games. An effective recovery strategy following a game is important, because there are few recovery days between the games in international tournaments. The present thesis, which was designed to mirror a competitive situation, aimed to investigate changes in several physiological systems occurring in female elite players in response to two soccer games. It also aimed to investigate the effects of active recovery training on the recovery of several physiological systems. METHODS: Two elite female soccer teams played two 90-min games separated by 72 h active or passive recovery. The active recovery training (cycling at 60% HRpeak, resistance training at <50% 1RM) lasted one hour and was performed 22 and 46 h after the first game. Countermovement jump (CMJ), 20-m sprint time and isokinetic knee strength were measured before, immediately, 5, 21, 45, 51, and 69 h after the first game, and immediately after the second game. The physical stress markers (CK, urea), oxidative stress markers (e.g., GSSG, lipid peroxidation), endogenous (e.g., UA, thiols) and dietary antioxidants (e.g., tocopherols, carotenoids) and a large battery of cytokines (e.g., IL-6, TNF-α) were analysed in blood. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed in the performance parameters, oxidative stress and antioxidant levels or inflammatory response between the active and passive recovery groups. Sprint and isokinetic knee strength were reduced by the same extent after both games. CMJ decreased after the first game and remained reduced throughout the study period. Blood physical stress markers, GSSG and endogenous antioxidants increased with similar amplitude after both games together with unchanged lipid peroxidation. The dietary antioxidants showed either a rapid and persistent change (e.g., tocopherols) or a delayed rise (carotenoids) after the first game. A transient increase occurred in several pro- (e.g., IL-12, TNF-a, MCP-1), anti-inflammatory (e.g., IL-4, IL-10, INF-a) and mixed (IL-6) cytokines after the first game. Fewer cytokines increased in response to the second game. CONCLUSION: Two repeated elite female soccer games separated by 72 h induced similar acute changes in several physiological parameters. After the first game, differences in the recovery pattern of the neuromuscular parameters occurred. In particular, the slow recovery of CMJ indicates that special attention should be devoted to the training of explosive force. Furthermore, the recruitment of antioxidants in response to the transient increase in GSSG resulted in the maintenance of the redox-balance in female players. Similarly, a strong and balanced pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine response occurred after one single female soccer game. The consequences of the dampened cytokine response during repeated soccer games are, however, unknown. In general, the majority of the parameters had recovered prior to the second game and the physiological alterations induced by the first game did not affect the performance of players in the second game. Finally, active recovery training conducted after a soccer game does not accelerate the recovery time for neuromuscular, oxidative stress, antioxidant and inflammatory responses in elite female players.
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| 10. |
- Andersson, Lotta, 1958-
(författare)
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Ecohydrological water flow analysis of a Swedish landscape in a 100 year perspective
- 1989
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The study basically involves analysis in a 100 year perspective of the hydrological response on precipitation from different landscape elements in south-central Sweden, characterized by the interaction of topography, soil type, land management and canopy cover.For this purpose, a dynamic water partitioning model, based on the soil moisture balance, was developed together with a Geographical Information System (GIS)-supported method for the detection of the spatial distribution of soil wetness as an indicator of the probability to act as discharge or recharge areas respectively.A comparison was made of the performance of water balance models of various complexity. It was shown that, generally, increasing the complexity of the submodels did not improve the agreement with measured soil moisture dynamics. As an example, due to negative feedbacks, the rather conservative nature of transpiration was well described by using 30 years monthly means of potential evapotranspiration. However, two important physical processes that are often neglected in water balance models had to be included: the limitation of transpiration by low soil and air temperatures in spring and early summer, and the drainage of rainwater through unsaturated forest soils.The model was used to analyze main differences in hydrological response between forests and open grasslands. It was also used to analyze interannual fluctuations of soil moisture deficts. Ironically, the variability was never as high as in the beginning of the hydrological year. The study revealed considerable fluctuations of 10, 30 and 50-year mean soil moisture deficits, and a general secular trend towards higher summer deficits and larger fluctuations around the median. In the light of the detected critical importance of the choice of time period, the concepts of return and standard periods were challenged. It was shown that the water balance model could be calibrated to simulate also overall basin response. Thus, simulated monthly estimates of both basin evapotranspiration and recharge rates for the Velen Representative Basin agreed well with data determined with other methods.The model was also used to simulate the integrated basin response from different parts of the landscape mosaic as determined from GIS-overlays. The obvious advantage of GIS was demonstrated. Finally, changes due to the wetness-impacting human interventions were analyzed. Since the 1870s such activities were shown to, on average, have caused a slight desiccation of the landscape, although the impacts locally could be large.
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