| 1. |
- Alsyouf, Imad
(författare)
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Cost Effective Maintenance for Competitve Advantages
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis describes the role of cost effective maintenance in achieving competitive advantages. It explores by means of a survey which maintenance practices are used, and how maintenance policies are selected in Swedish industries. Also, it suggests a model for selecting the most cost effective maintenance policy, and how to improve the effectiveness of condition based maintenance decision-making. Finally it discusses how to assess the impact of maintenance practices on business strategic objectives. The main results achieved in the thesis are 1) A better understanding of maintenance organisation, management, systems and maintenance status in Swedish industry. For example, it was found that about 70% of Swedish companies still consider maintenance as a cost centre. Preventive and predictive maintenance approaches are also emphasised. 2) Most Swedish firms, i.e. about 81%, use the accumulated knowledge and experience within the company as a method for maintenance selection. Besides, about 31% use a method based on modelling the time to failure and optimisation. About 10% use failure mode effect and criticality analysis (FMECA) and decision trees and only 2% use multiple criterion decision-making (MCDM). However, the most used maintenance selection method is not the one most satisfactory to its users. Furthermore, about 30% use a combination of at least two methods. 3) A practical model for selecting and improving the most cost effective maintenance policy was developed. It is characterised by incorporating all the strengths of the four methods used in industry. 4) A mechanistic model for predicting the value of vibration level was verified both at the lab and in a case study. 5) A model for identifying, assessing, monitoring and improving the economic impact of maintenance was developed and tested in a case study. Thus it was proved that maintenance is no longer a cost centre, but could be a profit-generating function. To achieve competitive advantages, companies should do the right thing, e.g. use the most cost effective maintenance policy, and they should do it right, e.g. ensure that they have the right competence. Furthermore, they should apply the never-ending improvement cycle, i.e. Plan-Do-Check-Act, which requires identifying problem areas by assessing the savings and profits generated by maintenance and monitoring the economic impact of the applied maintenance policy. Thus, they would know where investments should be allocated to eliminate the basic reasons for losses and increase savings. The major conclusion is that proper maintenance would improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of production systems, and hence enhances company competitiveness, i.e. productivity and value advantages, and long-term profitability.
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| 2. |
- Carlsson, Gunilla
(författare)
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Det våldsamma mötets fenomenologi : - om hot och våld i psykiatrisk vård
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The present study focuses on the phenomenology of the violent encounter, and is to be understood as the study of the violent encounter as a phenomenon, i.e. as experienced. The overall aim is to elucidate, analyse and describe violent encounters within psychiatric care as experienced by carers and patients. Moreover, the study aims at promoting the development of a phenomenological research approach in caring science in general and elucidating tacit caring knowledge in particular.The thesis includes three empirical studies and one methodological study. The research is guided by a phenomenological and lifeworld theoretical approach. Research data consist of narratives and qualitative interviews, as well as reenactment interviews with carers and patients. Data are analysed for meaning. The analysis and synthesis of meaning are aimed at openness and meaning sensitivity through a reflective attitude characterised by the intent to bridle the process of understanding. The goal of the analysis is to describe the general structure of the phenomenon and its meaning constituents.The result shows that violence and threat do not evolve in “naked” caring, characterised by encounters where carers are able to touch their patients at the same time as being touched, speaking both literally and figuratively. It is through “naked” caring and caring touch that the carers are able to reach the patients and to give undisguised invitations to genuine presence. The possibilities of touch rely on the carers’ capacity to be authentic and to genuinely wish well. Violence is on the contrary nourished by touch without caring intention, or non-touch, i.e. caring where the reciprocity of touching and being touched is missing between patients and caregivers.In the discussion, the different meanings of the violent encounter are related to the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty and Lévinas. The philosophical dimensions of touch are investigated and it is discussed how the “naked” encounter can be understood from a phenomenological ethical standpoint. The discussion focuses on the caregivers’ vulnerability and the high demands they are subjected to. It is also argued that a foundation of caring science is needed in caring practice in order to make possible a development of a caring attitude that prevents violence.
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| 3. |
- Dufwa, Sune
(författare)
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Kön, lön och karriär : Sjuksköterskeyrkets omvandling under 1900-talet
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In a Swedish context this thesis deals with male integration in the profession of nursing during the last 50 years of the twentieth century.I focus on four different topics.At first the pioneer era is discussed, that is in the beginning of the 50s, when men were allowed to enter the nursing profession and become nurses. Here I discuss on the Swedish Society of Nursings (Svensk Sjuksköterskeförening, SSF)) standpoint on the matter of men’s ability to participate in a sphere so closely connected with professional values as well as feminine values of caring and support.The second topic deals with the question of using the concept ‘sjuksköterska’ (nurse), in Sweden a feminine marked word, as a title for both men and women. The result of a long and keen debate is that a lot of imaginative titles were refused and that still today both women and men use the female title ‘sjuksköterska’. This might be one reason for men not seeking the profession of nursing.In the third place I look at the pecuniary result for nurses especially after 1986 when a new individual oriented wage determination was launched. The local investigation comprises four different clinics at the University hospital in Malmö (Universitetssjukhuset Malmö allmänna sjukshus, UMAS) and takes a special interest in earnings between male and female nurses. In countries with long experience of individual wage systems male nurses usually earn more than their female counterparts. The question I ask is if the same tendency is about to happen in Sweden.Finally, the possibilities of making a career in the profession of nursing is analyzed. The local investigation stresses that female nurses seem to prefer an administrative career in an increasing extent than men do. Male nurses, on the other hand, made union careers in the 70s and 80s and especially the post as ombudsman is popular. In the mid 90s the male appointment to union position is growing weaker probably connected to an increasing feminine consciousness among female nurses. Also the professionalisation process of the nurse corps is shortly examined.
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| 4. |
- Estling, Maria, 1968-
(författare)
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Syntactic variation in English quantified noun phrases with all, whole, both and half
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of the present study is to investigate syntactic variation in certain Present-day English noun phrase types including the quantifiers all, whole, both and half (e.g. a half hour vs. half an hour). More specific research questions concerns the overall frequency distribution of the variants, how they are distributed across regions and media and what linguistic factors influence the choice of variant. The study is based on corpus material comprising three newspapers from 1995 (The Independent, The New York Times and The Sydney Morning Herald) and two spoken corpora (the dialogue component of the BNC and the Longman Spoken American Corpus).The book presents a number of previously not discussed issues with respect to all, whole, both and half. The study of distribution shows that one form often predominated greatly over the other(s) and that there were several cases of regional variation. A number of linguistic factors further seem to be involved for each of the variables analysed, such as the syntactic function of the noun phrase and the presence of certain elements in the NP or its near co-text. For each of the variables, all factors were ranked according to their strength of correlation with particular variants. The study also discusses a possible grammaticalisation process concerning NPs with half and the possibility of all sometimes having another function than expressing totality: to express large quantity.The whole idea of grammatical synonymy has been questioned by some scholars, but the conclusion drawn in the present study is that there are variables that are at least very close to each other in meaning, and that a number of linguistic and non-linguistic factors influence our choices of variant. A great deal of the information obtained was too detailed to be useful for pedagogical purposes, but in several cases the results could clearly be used to improve school and reference grammars.
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| 5. |
- Haglund Morrissey, Anne
(författare)
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The EU Presidency and the Northern Dimension Initiative : Applying International Regime Theory
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The main purpose of the thesis is to assess the role of the EU Presidency in the development of the Northern Dimension (ND) – an initiative on the European Union’s foreign policy agenda. Three Presidency periods have been selected within the same time interval held by countries geographically located within the ND: Finland in 1999, Sweden in 2001 and Denmark in 2002.An adapted version of international regime theory has been applied to the ND, labelled an EU-led ‘composite policy regime’, and the Presidency has been treated as an actor in regime analysis.It is claimed that the Presidency has a particular role to play in the various phases that have been identified in the regime-building process of an international regime, namely regime formulation, implementation, reproduction and transformation.First, the Presidency as an important actor in the EU’s external relations has a specific opportunity to influence the orientation of the regime development process through its Presidency approach, its undertaken activities and launched initiatives during its six months in office. Second, the phase of the regime development process in which the actual regime is located at the time for a specific Presidency, influences the room of manoeuvre and the activities of the member-state in office.After a comparison between the three Nordic presidencies regarding their main interests, priorities, focus and activities in the field of the ND, regime analysis has proven valuable for the explanation of visible variations between them. Regime theory has offered a comprehensive approach both as regards the ways in which to depict the ND, which possesses rather unique characteristics, as well as for assessing the role of the Presidency as an important actor for the development of an initiative on the Union’s foreign policy agenda.
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| 6. |
- Hansson, Lars
(författare)
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Slakt i takt : Klassformering vid de bondekooperativa slakterierna i Skåne 1908-1946
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- From the begiining of the 20th century producer co-operative bacon factories were established in the south of Sweden. In his thesis Lars Hansson studies how class relations were shaped and transformed within this rural industry. The producer co-operative slaughter associations consisted of a large number of members from smallholders to large scale agrarian producers. The power of the associations was concentrated in the hands of the big producers, but the manangers also had a considerable power, due to their expert knowledge of the buisness and the bacon markets in U.K. The workers of the producer co-operative slaughter houses were mostly unskilled workers, with little or no knowledge of butchering. From the 1910’s the workers unionized but their organisation was not accepted by the employers and harsh labour disputes took place during the 1920’s. From the 1930’s the farmers producer co-operative movement grew all over Sweden and they formed a political alliance with the Social democratic Party. The Swedish labour market became more peaceful as the employers and the unions began to co-operate to a greater extent. The Food Workers Union was more and more integrated in the Swedish society and thereby lost its earlier antisystemic character and were more and more transformed into a systemic movement. The slaughter house workers union had a distinct patriarchal characters from its start and its attitude towards women workers was ambivalent. During WWII, however, the attitude changed and more women were active in class practice in order to improve their situation.
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| 7. |
- Henriksson, Carina
(författare)
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Living Away from Blessings : School Failure as Lived Experience
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation seeks to unveil and describe students’ experiences of school failure. Traditionally, research in the field has tended to approach school failure from a societal perspective, often construing school failure as a drop-out problem. Consequently, adults have been authorized to define how the notion of school failure is to be understood, and have usually attributed it to inadequate grades, and/or cognitive shortcomings on the part of the students. Moreover, scientific and governmental reports regularly provide us with statistics concerning drop-out rates. What these statistics do not tell us, however, is how the students themselves define and experience school failure. Parallel to the drop-out research, classroom research has traditionally focused on the teacher-student interaction, mainly from a “teacher-thinking” perspective. This dissertation offers an alternative understanding of the notion of school failure: it examines students’ lived experiences of school failure in the classroom. Former students in an individual program and inmates in juvenile institutions shared their lived experiences of a school failure. The students were asked to write down their recollections of a specific moment when they felt that they had failed in school. In addition to the written experiential accounts, the students’ experiences were explored further in interviews. The lived-experience descriptions show that the students view school failure as having little to do with cognitive inadequacy; rather, they understand school failure as a behavioral deficiency on their part. Thus, the center of attention is not on the student-learning perspective, but the student-teacher relationship. The phenomenological, thematic analyses show that the experience of school failure is a complex phenomenon that reaches far beyond grades and dropping out. The temporal, spatial, and relational dimensions of experiencing school failure include feelings of disappointment, non-recognition, loneliness, boredom, shame, marginalization, stigmatization, inferiority, and worthlessness. A subsidiary aim of the dissertation is to contribute to the development of the phenomenological research method “phenomenology of practice.” The method, developed by Max van Manen and inspired by the scholars of the Utrecht school, integrates phenomenology, hermeneutics, and semiotics. The “phenomenology of practice” approach, which aims to disclose taken-for-granted attitudes, and has proved beneficial for exploring practical, pedagogical issues, such as experiences of school failure.
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| 8. |
- Larsson, Rolf G
(författare)
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Prototyping inom ABC och BSc. : Erfarenheter från aktionsforskning i tre organisationer
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation focuses on how to use prototyping as a method for developing models in Management Accounting and Control Systems, a field in Business Administration. It combines three emerging theories: prototyping, Activity Based Costing (ABC) and the Balanced Scorecard (BSc). Prototyping is an alternative to the traditional systems development method. In prototyping end-users play an important role in being a part of the development team in the design of models for ABC and BSc. The study is conducted as action research projects. Together with controllers and their co-workers, in three organisations, I am engaged in four prototyping projects between 1988 and 2003. The cases are Gunnebo Fastening, Kinnarps Office Furniture and the local community organisation for Childcare & School in Västervik. The main result is that we can show that it is possible to develop models for ABC and BSc with prototyping. It is also possible to develop models for the different versions of ABC and BSc that Cooper & Kaplan and Kaplan & Norton suggest. We learn that prototyping is a process in loops consisting of four phases: exploration, experimentation, evaluation and evolution. This type of prototyping is labelled Experience based Prototyping, E-Prototyping. The contributions from the study are of two kinds. The major contribution is that with the E-Prototyping process we can see a further development of the knowledge of prototyping. In E-Prototyping I have put together various theories on prototyping into one process and identified the four phases of exploration, experimentation, evaluation and evolution. The second kind of contribution is found in models for ABC and BSc, developed with prototyping. Both ABC and BSc theories continue to be developed and I have followed that development for almost 15 years. We have been able to show, both theoretically and practically, that prototyping is an alternative to the stepwise system development method that Cooper & Kaplan and Kaplan & Norton suggest. It is a method that allows us to follow the various versions of the theory of ABC and BSc with our prototypes. We are also extending BSc theory when we use the BSc prototype Cockpit as a model for quality control and when we introduce the combination of ABC and BSc as a basis for what the C and S label value for money.
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| 9. |
- Nilsson, Magnus
(författare)
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Mångtydigheternas klarhet. Om ironier hos Torgny Lindgren från Skolbagateller till Hummelhonung
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis addresses the work of the Swedish author, Torgny Lindgren (born 1938). Its main focus lies on the all-pervading irony in his work. The use of irony is seen as a unifying trait in Lindgren’s authorship. The development of more complex ironies during the years of his authorship is seen as an effect of his authorship’s thematic development, moving from political satire to existential, ethical and religious matters. The first chapter provides a short presentation of Lindgren’s life and work, and is followed by an extensive theoretical section that is concerned with the interpretation of irony. The interpretational model that is argued for in the thesis states that instances of irony are not apprehended as irony until they are interpreted as such. However, it is also argued that an author is able to trigger this type of interpretation by employing certain textual and contextual stimuli that are socially and culturally determined, thereby signalling that an interpretation of irony is to be inferred. The next five chapters consist of close analyses of the novels that Lindgren published between 1972 and 1995. Here it is shown how Lindgren moves from a pessimistic view of life in his early novels, via a trust in the mercy of God, to a mystical view of God; God as the unification of incompatibilities. It is also shown that, from his public breakthrough in 1982 and on, Lindgren delves deeply into religious questions and the irony of human existence. From this point onwards, Lindgren’s typical “poetics of ambiguity” (such that it is labelled in the thesis) becomes a predominant factor in his work. The most salient feature of this poetics is how Lindgren constantly exploits a movement between opposed positions. He does this in order to show that the answer one can obtain with respect to Life’s existential questions can only be formulated as some unspeakable thirdness that comes forth only in a dialectic play between extremes. It is also pointed out in the thesis that the predominant metafictional themes in Lindgren’s work have an existential significance. In addition to the analysis of how Lindgren employs many different kinds of ironies in order to express his view of the world, his novels are also compared with the thoughts of several significant European philosophers, including Böhme, Spinoza, Schlegel, Kierkegaard and Schopenhauer. It is shown, however, that the thoughts of these thinkers are not completely accepted by Lindgren since it is concluded in the final chapter that Lindgren is engaged in a constant critical discussion of the thoughts of these (and other) thinkers in order to express an ironic view of the world; a world where everything is all things, everywhere, at the same time.
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| 10. |
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