| 41. |
- Laginder, Ann-Marie, 1951-
(författare)
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Framtidsbilder i offentligt utredande. : Teknik, utbildning och samhällsutveckling
- 1989
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Introduction of a bill to the Swedish parliament is often preceded by a commission of inquiry. The role played by government commissions on policymaking and their consensus-promoting function are the underlying motives for this dissertation on images of the future in commission reports.The dissertation deals with three Swedish commissions of inquiry and reports presenting the work, deliberations, and proposals of each: the 1960 and the 1976 Commissions on Upper Secondary Schools, and the 1978 Commission on Computerization in Working Life. How are changes in society outlined? What salient vision emerges from the meeting between people and technology? What role is assigned to education?The concept public image can aid our understanding of how a related concept images of the future is dealt with in commission reports. A universal image is created which can be commission-specific or applicable to an entire social culture. In the latter case, continuance is a tacit part of the image. The idea that progress springs from technological expansion has considerably influenced Swedish attitudes toward existence as a realistic is. Other universal valuations are people-oriented, and encompass a moral dimension, a universal ought. Simplified, an image of the future is a meeting between is and ought. This type of generally held image whether specific for a commission or generally applicable to an entire social culture - is assigned considerable significance in this dissertation: what problems are brought to the fore, what relations become pivotal and what courses of action are deemed viable.The study at hand shows that symbolic images such as "softer society", "changing society" and "information society" are important for completing images of the future by serving as a synthesis.
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| 42. |
- Lindgren, Michael, 1953-
(författare)
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Glory and failure : The difference engines of Johann Müller, Charles Babbage and Georg and Edvard Scheutz
- 1987
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This book presents a social and technical analysis of the first attempts to mechanize the production of numerical tablets. It deals with an age when the word "computer" denoted a human being and not a machine.The Difference engine was the first mechanical solution to the old problem of errors in tables, a machine that could calculate and print all kinds of tables - logarithmical, nautical, astronomical etc., for ultimate use in various areas of human endeavour.How was it possible for the teenager Edvard Scheutz to make a complete difference engine at a negligible cost and with the cimplest tools in 1843, while Charles Babbage with the assistance of a skilled engineer, several workmen and an extremely well-equipped workshop and with a budget of more than 17.000 pounds, failed? How did the various sections of society react to the difference engine? Was incomprehension crucial when the inventors came to apply for governmental support? Why was the Scheutz engine not a commercial success?This is the story of the difference engine, an invention which was to bring its creators not only honour and fame, but which also presented them with many difficulties and left them without financial compensation. It is a tragic story of glory and failure.
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| 43. |
- Lindskog, Per, 1945-
(författare)
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Why poor children stay sick : Water sanitation hygiene and child health in rural Malawi
- 1987
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The impact of an improved method of drinking water supply upon child health was evaluated in a rural area in southern Malawi. A prospective cohort srudy was made before and after the intervention with a gravityfed,piped water and a sanitation and health education programme using intervention and comparison groups. Water handling and hygiene behaviour of people were studied together with people's knowledge andperception regarding water quality. The morbidity, growth and mortality of 1178 children under five years of age were investigated. The bacteriological quality of both the traditional water sources and the piped water as well as that of stored household water was examined during dry and rainy seasons.The piped water was of considerably better bacteriological quality than that of the traditional water sources. However, during storage at home water from both types of sources became heavily contaminated. The deterioration was particularly pronounced during the rainy season. After intervention with piped water, all households, also those using traditional water, used significantly more water. The perception of people regarding the quality of their water was closely related to the bacteriological quality.There was significantly lower total morbidity and a tendency toward lower mortality for children in households using the improved method of water supply compared to children in households relying upon traditional water sources. On the other hand, there was no statistically significant impact upon any of the water-related diseases. Considering the poor environmental and personal hygiene as well as deficiencies in food supply, the lack of a significant impact is not surprising. Despite this, there was a conspicuous tendency of a decline in the prevalence of diarrhoea! diseases after intervention both among children in households using the improved water and in households not using it. There was thus a certain "spill-over" effect. All households, both those in the intervention and those in the comparison group, actively participated in the work of the water project, which resulted in an increased awareness of health related issues in both groups. This implies serious diffuculties when using a quasi-experimental design, which relies on before and after evaluations with comparison groups.There were strong inter- and intra-seasonal variations of all diseases. Eye- and skin-infection co-varied closely with variations in rainfall. The prevalence of diarrhoea! diseases was lowest during the beginning ofthe dry season, then gradually increased to reach a peak at the onset of the rains when total morbidity was lowest and after that decreased towards the end of the rainy season. The results indicate that accessibility to water as well as pesonal hygiene are relatively more important than the quality of the environment and the food supply. Children born during the beginning of the dry season had the lowest rates of diarrhoea diseases during their first 18 months, while those born during the beginning of the rains had the highest. The implications of climatic seasonality are thus of paramount importance when planning and implementing development programmes.
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| 44. |
- Lindvall, Jan, 1949-
(författare)
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Expensive time and busy money : A study of households' substitution between time and expenditures in consumption and household production with emphasis on the food section
- 1989
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study deals with household production. The subject is defined as activities with an outcome that can be substituted for that of the work of others. Household production is a part of the unrecorded, informal sector, and a number of previous studies have shown that this subsector is quite large. Estimates of the value of household production suggest that it measures between 20 to 50 per cent of GNP in industrialized countries.However, it is disputable how to measure this value and the results depend heavily on what kind of measures that have been used.Much attention has been paid to measurements and descriptions of household production but there seems to be less interest in the determinants of this activity. In this study, a model is developed and discussed based on neoclassical microeconomic theory of consumption and the allocation of time. Time and expenditures (goods) arc regarded as being inputs in household production, and the opportunity of substitution between these inputs is emphasized.However, an economic model presumes economic behavior. In this case, this means that households attempt to maximize their utility. If behavior is dctcrmim;d by other means- or no specific means at all -the economic model becomes irrelevant. If preferences are unknown- which they usually are- the rationality of consumption choices is not possible to verify or refute. The different use of time and expenditures by thehouseholds may, however, be regarded as more "objective" choices of production methods which are determined by tangible economic factors- funds of time, money and human and real capital in the households.In the empirical part of the study, the importance of these economic factors is examined for household production in the food sector. Total expenditures on food together with the purchase of time-saving andexpenditure-saving foodstuffs are analyzed' against measures of the funds of time and money in the households. Variables that may indicate differences in productivity are·also tested. The data used is a Swedishexpenditure survey of 1978. The results can be summarized as follows:1. There is a clear pattern that shows that households tend to trade in money for time, and vice versa. Hence, variables which can be given an economic interpretation prove to be of significant importance. Examplesof such variables are income and working hours. Also, larger households seem to take advantage of the economies of scale that are related to food preparation.2. Although significant, the "economic" variables explain only I0-20% of the variation between the households. Other important determinants are age and (for single adult households) gender.3. The influence of the economic variables per se is roughly the same for females and males and in different stages in the life cycle.An economic model can only partly explain household production behavior. The study emphasizes the need for data that cover both time-use and expenditures. In order to get a better explanation of the behavior it seems necessary to use a model based on economic theory together with, for instance, sociology and psychology.
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| 45. |
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| 46. |
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| 47. |
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| 48. |
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| 49. |
- Lundgren, Bo, 1955-
(författare)
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Off-flavours in drinking water : Analytical procedures and treatment effects in biologically active sand filters
- 1989
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Taste and odour problems in drinking water are primarily caused by naturally produced, volatile, organic compounds. So far, research in this field has focused on a relatively small number of known compounds. However, several results indicate that the origin of objectionable tastes and odours in water can be attributed to a much larger group of compounds, many of them so far unidentified.The complex composition of off· flavours in drinking water calls for a systematic method of establishing cause-effect relationships. In the present study such a method was developed. After enrichment of odorous organic compounds by stripping, solvent extraction and adsorption on XAD-2, the extracts obtained were fractionated by preparative gas chromatography with subsequent sensory evaluation of the fractionsredissolved in water. It is suggested that this technique, in combination with chromatographic sniffing, may play a crucial role in isolation and identification of the compounds causing the off· flavour of a water sample.Abatement of off-flavours in water is mainly accomplished by means of different filtration techniques. In the present study, the removal of off-flavour compounds during filtration through biologically active sand filters was investigated. This was done during both full-scale operation of the artificial ground water recharge technique and laboratory-scale column experiments with or without pretreatment with ozone. The efficient removal of off-flavours obtained in the sand filters studied, demonstrated the potential of treatment methods based on biological activity. Artificial groundwater recharge and related sand filtration techniques deserve an increased attention in drinking water treatment.
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| 50. |
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