| 1. |
- Jönsson, Fredrik, 1973-
(författare)
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Olfactory Metacognition : A Metamemory Perspective on Odor Naming
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Although many aspects of odor naming have received attention during the years, the participants' own cognitions (metamemory) about their naming attempts have not. (i) We showed that feeling of knowing (FOK) judgments accompanying odor naming failures are predictive of later recognition (Study I) or retrieval (Study III) of the missing name, but to a lesser degree than equivalent judgments about names of persons. “Tip of the nose” (TON) experiences do predict later odor name recall (Study I), but are otherwise poorly related to any partial activation of other information associated with the odor. (ii) We evaluated two theories proposed to explain the underlying basis of FOK judgments. Correlational analysis showed that FOK judgments about odor names are related to the perceived familiarity of the cue triggering the FOK (cue familiarity theory; Study III). FOK judgments are based on the amount of available information about the sought-for memory (accessibility theory; Study I and III). (iii) We demonstrated that the participants are overconfident in their odor naming attempts (Study I and II). This may to some degree be due to the arousing properties of the odors (Study II), suggesting that emotional variables should be taken into account when researching metamemory. (iv) Our inability to correctly name odors are typically not due to an uniquely poor association between odors and their proper names, but rather due to failures to identify the odors (Study III), that is, failures to retrieve “what it is”. It was also found that TOT experiences are unusual for odor names and more so than for person names. (v) We discuss potential differences between olfactory metamemory and metamemory for other modalities. The TON experience differs from the tip of the tongue (TOT) experience and the predictive validity is lower for metamemory judgments about odor names compared to other modalities.
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| 2. |
- Olsson, Rolf, 1969-
(författare)
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MANAGING PROJECT UNCERTAINTY BY USING AN ENHANCED RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- An increasing number of companies are focusing their efforts on project management. Project management is frequently used as an enabler for meeting an uncertain and turbulent environment. Consequently, the overall effectiveness of the project management process is essential for long-term profitability. The aim and final effects of project management are to predict the outcome, i.e. cost, time and quality. However, uncertainty is inherent in the objectives of the project itself, as we use assumptions and expectations in defining and realizing the outcome of the project. A project’s ability to identify and react to uncertainty will influence the outcome of the project. Presently, risk management processes exist in several forms and are often used to manage uncertainty. However, it is frequently argued in academia as well as for the practitioner that risk management does not live up to expected results. The overall objective of this research is to improve the process for managing risks and opportunities within a project organization. The research starts from the single project view, followed by the strategic link to business strategy by including the project portfolio management perspective. Finally, the research focuses on opportunities and the ability of a project to realize them. Thus, the research questions addressed concern how risk is conceived in a theoretical global context and how this would assist in developing a methodology for risk management in an international project organization. They also involve how risk management within a project portfolio could be conducted and its effectiveness measured. Finally, the research questions also address how the management of opportunities could be improved. This research includes the development of four methodologies, based on industrial need. A holistic approach with a systems perspective has been used in order to handle the complexity of the research task. Both empirical and theoretical material has been used for developing the proposed methodologies. The developed methodologies for project risk management and the measures of its effectiveness have been tested and improved over a five-year period within the complete case company. Subsequently, two of them were implemented. The developed methodologies show that the risk management process in a single project does not foster learning and is not directly applicable within a portfolio of projects. Furthermore, the risk management process is not able to address all types of uncertainty. The project manager is a major factor in an effective management of uncertainty. When identifying and managing opportunity, having the ability to create a holistic view, to oversee both customer expectations, and to communicate project related information are important factors. Furthermore, the implementation also showed that it is actually possible, through the consistent use of a risk management process, to develop a cultural behavior within an organization that is much more preventive and proactive than before.
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| 3. |
- Aid, Graham, 1980-
(författare)
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Operationalizing Industrial Ecology in the Waste Sector : Roles and tactics for circular value innovation
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The take-make-waste approach to resource management in human production and consumption systems is contributing to a variety of environmental and social problems worldwide. Additionally, as the world’s population and affluence increase, so do the negative impacts of poor resource management. Lifting the waste management (WM) sector into a new phase of development, which takes its lead from the ideals of Industrial Ecology and circular economy, is seen by many scholars and practitioners as one potential to assist in alleviating these impacts. While there are many studies on how more efficient inter-organizational resource management is (or could be) constructed, there are relatively few business development studies which have explored novel approaches (from roles to tactics) that WM organizations might operationalize toward more efficient resource management.The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the development of knowledge and understanding of how the waste management sector can operationalize more effective and efficient resource management. In approaching this aim, two research questions guided the exploration of: 1) novel roles for WM and 2) support tactics for such roles. Grounded in the broader context of Industrial Ecology (IE) and Business Development, five studies were performed. Two studies, focused on the novel roles of inter-organizational resource management and high value secondary resource extraction, were performed through literature review and interviews, and market driver analysis respectively. In exploring support tactics, two design and proof of concept studies were carried out to investigate data analysis tools for inter-organizational resource management, and one long-term action research engagement project was coordinated to study hands-on inter-organizational collaboration tactics.The studies highlighted that the Swedish WM sector holds some key capacities for operationalizing (and in some cases, is already developing) the novel resource management roles identified: industrial symbiosis facilitator, eco-industrial park manager, holistic facility management, and high value resource extractor. However, depending on the portfolio of services to be performed in such roles, several capacities may need to be developed or strengthened. Main opportunities seen for these roles were – staying ahead of market developments, and aligning activities with organizational goals. The main general risk related to these roles was insufficient returns on investment. Looking forward, the main enablers identified were policy leadership for more balanced market mechanisms, increasing use of external knowledge, developing long term partnerships, lobbying, stockpiling resources, and carefully crafting new business models.The tools developed for strategically applying external information toward the identification of opportunities within new roles showed tactical potential. However, their implementation in broader development processes has yet to be fully validated. The hands-on exploration of change oriented collaboration, highlighted collective system framing and goal setting and face-to-face interaction as key activities for inter-organizational approaches within roles such as industrial symbiosis facilitator.Throughout the studies, several novel roles were investigated. Each of these roles will need to be individually evaluated by directing bodies of WM organizations, and evaluated from the organization’s vision and strategy. If certain roles are chosen to be explored in more detail, they will need to be developed within full business models - addressing issues such as income structure, internal processes and capacities to be developed, and key customers. Through applying IE and business development concepts and findings, WM organizations have possibilities to translate ambitious visions into novel offerings.
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| 4. |
- Bergman, Frida, 1984-
(författare)
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Active workstations : a NEAT way to prevent and treat overweight and obesity?
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Modern society is triggering sedentary behaviours in different domains. Different strategies can be used to reduce the time spent sitting and increase physical activity in the office environment, which is one domain where sedentary time is often high. One such strategy could be to install treadmill workstations. With these, the office workers can walk on a treadmill while performing their usual work tasks at the computer. However, the long-term effects of these workstations are not known. Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate the long-term effects on sedentary behaviour, physical activity and associated health factors of installing treadmill workstations in offices compared to regular office work.Method: In this randomized controlled trial, 80 sedentary, middle-aged, healthy office workers with overweight or obesity were individually randomized into either an intervention or a control group. Those in the intervention group had a treadmill workstation installed at their sit-stand desk, to use for at least one hour per day for 13 months. They further received boosting e-mails at four time-points during the study. Participants in the control group continued to work as normal at their sit-stand office desk. All participants also received a health consultation at the beginning of the study, where they got to discuss physical activity and diet recommendations. Measurements reported include physical activity and sedentary behaviour, anthropometric measurements, body composition, metabolic outcomes, stress, depression and anxiety, cognitive function, structural brain images and interview data. Linear mixed models were used for the main statistical analyses of the quantitative data. An exploratory approach was also undertaken, using orthogonal partial least squares regression on the baseline data. Finally, interview data from participants in the intervention group were analysed using a modified Grounded Theory approach.Results: The intervention group increased their daily walking time and their number of steps at all follow-ups compared to the control group. Concomitantly, a decrease in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) was observed within both groups, mainly during weekends. No intervention effects were observed on any of the body, cognitive or brain volume measurements. Our exploratory analyses revealed a significant association between smaller hippocampal volume and percentage sitting time among participants over 51 years of age. From the interview data, we discovered a core category, “The Capacity to Benefit”. The categories were described as the ideal types the Convinced, the Competitive, the Responsible and the Vacillating, based on the principal characteristics of the participants representing their different motivational status and strategies to reach the goal of benefitting from the intervention. Conclusion: It is possible to increase daily physical activity in office environments by introducing treadmill workstations. Future interventions should adapt strategies for the individuals based on their motivational level, but should also workwith the social and physical environment and with factors within the organization to gain the best effects of these interventions.
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| 5. |
- Blåvarg, Christina
(författare)
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The alluring nature of episodic odor memory : Sensory and cognitive correlates across age and sex
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Episodic memory for olfactory information is still relatively uncharted. The overall purpose of this thesis is to investigate the sensory and cognitive causes of the well-established age-related decline in olfactory episodic odor memory and of the age-independent sex difference in olfactory episodic memory. The purpose of Study I was to investigate the causes of the sex difference in olfactory episodic memory. The results show that the female advantage in episodic recognition memory seems to be explained by women´s higher aptitude in odor identification for familiar odors. With this background, the purpose of Study II was to investigate the age-related decline in olfactory episodic memory, with a particular eye to the role of odor identification. When controlling for the sensory variables olfactory threshold and odor quality discrimination, and the cognitive factor mental speed, the age-related deterioration in odor identification was eliminated. This suggests that changes in basic sensory and cognitive abilities underlie the age-related impairment in odor identification. The purpose of Study III was to investigate the role of recollective experience and intention to memorize for age-related and sex-related differences in episodic odor memory. Younger adults reported more experiences of remembering, and the elderly adults more experiences of feeling of knowing. The participants benefited from intentionality at encoding when the odors were unfamiliar, but intentionality did not affect memory for the familiar odors. The purpose of Study IV was to investigate the role of subjectively perceived qualities of the encoded odors for episodic memory across age and sex. Odors perceived as unpleasant, intense, and irritable were more easily remembered throughout the adult life span. The oldest adults selectively recognized the odors they rated as highly irritable indicating compensatory use of trigeminal activation. Overall, the result suggests that episodic odor memory rely heavily on both sensory and cognitive abilities, but in a different manner depending on demographic factors. The age-related decline appears to be driven by a sensory flattening disabling adequate cognitive processing. The age-independent sex difference on the other hand, is mainly cognitively mediated and driven by cognitive factors such as the ability to verbalize olfactory information.
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| 6. |
- Eriksson [Engvall], Gunilla, 1976-
(författare)
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The intelligence discourse : the Swedish military intelligence (MUST) as a producer of knowledge
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Directorate (MUST) is a producer of knowledge, a knowledge that is fundamental for decisionmaking in foreign and security policy. The intelligence knowledge production is often held as objective, value neutral, and with the intention of ‘speaking truth onto power’. However, this study holds that such a perspective on intelligence knowledge production calls for a revision. Hence, the overall purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of knowledge in intelligence analysis and also to investigate how that knowledge is affected by the social context of its production, the military intelligence service. The source material is of three kinds; first texts and documents, second interviews with intelligence analysts and managers, and third observations of seminars and meetings during the production process of estimates.The results are that there is a strong presence of an implicit interpretive framework that continuously influences and guides the knowledge production and thereby makes the knowledge dependent on one specific perspective contrary to the intentional objectivity within the intelligence service. Further, the study reveals that the social and discursive practices for intelligence knowledge production include a ‘logic of appropriateness’ suggesting the presence of a structured Denkkollektiv with a structured Denkstil. The actions and choices of the individuals are transformed to create conformity to the norms within the social discursive practices. Thus, the inherited frame of interpretation, as well as the socialised norm of staying within the existing accepted frames ofthinking and acting ends up to the stability and duration of the not always accurate and fruitful Denkstil.At the core of political science resides the question of how policy is shaped. Even though this study has focused merely on one organisation in a specific policy field in one country it brings insights to the knowledge and policy nexus.
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| 7. |
- Eriksson, Kerstin Margareta, 1955-
(författare)
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A 3-year lifestyle intervention in primary health care : effects on physical activity, cardiovascular risk factors, quality of life and cost-effectiveness
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: A sedentary lifestyle diminishes quality of life (QOL) and contributes to increasing prevalence of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and thus increases the economic burden on health care and society. Expensive and tightly controlled lifestyle interventions reduce cardiovascular risk and onset of diabetes. Transferring these findings to the primary care setting is of clinical importance. The primary aim of this thesis was to apply a lifestyle intervention program in the primary care setting among individuals with moderate-to-high risk for CVD, and evaluate the effects on physical activity, cardiovascular risk factor levels and QOL. A secondary aim was to investigate the cost-effectiveness. Methods: A randomized controlled trial with one intervention group (n=75) and one control group (n=76) with follow-up at 3, 12, 24 and 36 months was used. Patients with the diagnosis obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes or any combination thereof (mean age 54 yr, 57% female) were recruited from a primary health centre in northern Sweden. The three-month intervention period consisted of group-based supervised exercise sessions and diet counselling, followed by regular, but sparse, group meetings with a behavioural approach during three years. Clinical measurements included anthropometrics, aerobic fitness, blood pressure and metabolic traits. Questionnaires on self-reported physical activity, stages of change for physical activity, and QOL were used. In a cost-utility analysis the costs, gained quality-adjusted life years (QALY), and savings in health care were considered. Probability of cost-effectiveness was described using Net Monetary Benefit Method. Results: Overall, the lifestyle intervention generated beneficial improvements in anthropometrics, blood pressure, aerobic fitness and activity level, and QOL, compared to the control group which only received one information meeting. At 36 months, intention-to-treat analyses showed that lifestyle modification reduced waist circumference (–2.2 cm), waist-hip ratio (–0.02), systolic blood pressure (–5.1 mmHg), and diastolic blood pressure (–1.6 mmHg) and significantly improved aerobic fitness (5%). BMI, lipid or glucose values did not differ between groups. Progression to active stages of change for physical activity and increases in time spent exercising and total physical activity were reported. Both physical and mental dimensions of QOL were improved during the study period, but after 3 years differences persisted mainly in physical dimensions. Cost per gained QALY was low, 1668-4813 USD (savings not counted). Visits to family physicians significantly decreased and there was a net saving of 47 USD per participant. Probabilities of cost-effectiveness were 89-100% when 50 000 USD was used as threshold of willingness to pay for a gained QALY. Conclusions: A group-based lifestyle intervention program in a primary health care setting favourably influences cardiovascular risk-factor profiles, increases physical activity level, and improves several dimensions of QOL in high-risk individuals, at least up to 3 years. The intervention method was highly cost-effective in relation to standard care. The results emphasize the advantage of an intervention that combines supervised exercise with regular follow-ups for reaching long term effects. The study high-lights the feasibility of lifestyle interventions in the primary care setting and the importance of health care professionals supporting change in lifestyle.
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| 8. |
- Haux, Caroline, 1960-
(författare)
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Framkallning : Skrift, konsumtion och sexualitet i Karin Boyes Astarte och Henry Parlands Sönder
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is a comparative study in two novels which both try to understand modern life. The novels were both written between 1929 and 1930 as entries for the same major Nordic novel contest – Astarte in Sweden by Karin Boye, Sönder [To Pieces ]in Finland by the Finno-swedish author Henry Parland.This analysis tries to determine what is at stake in these novels by, apart from investigating them as novels in their own right, examining the complex interaction between a specific moment in history and the representation of that moment as literary text. The novels are examined as events in a specific historical situation; that is, how they write what is contemporary into themselves, trough answering the question about the historical moment that they themselves formulate. Four issues are fundamental to the study: The function of consumption and the commodity form in the novels. The way in which these novels render sexuality and desire. How other media forms function as aesthetic technologies for the novels. Lastly, aesthetics, writing and allegory: how the novels reflect on the possibility of representing this societal moment in history.A focus in the analysis is how woman is called forth as golden statue and photography, how she by letting herself be consumed as sexual symbol elicits male speech – thereby also making the speaker into author, and man. The economic side to this is the way in which men and women take on the form of commodities amongst themselves. It is in this sexual economy that they become men and women. The transformation of the sexed object into the systematic status of a sign, signifying its value, implies the simultaneous transformation of human relations into consumer relations: You consume or get consumed.
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| 9. |
- Henriksson, Maria P.
(författare)
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Human Rationality : Observing or Inferring Reality
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis investigates the boundary of human rationality and how psychological processes interact with underlying regularities in the environment and affect beliefs and achievement. Two common modes in everyday experiential learning, supervised and unsupervised learning were hypothesized to tap different ecological and epistemological approaches to human adaptation; the Brunswikian and the Gibsonian approach. In addition, they were expected to be differentially effective for achievement depending on underlying regularities in the task environment. The first approach assumes that people use top-down processes and learn from hypothesis testing and external feedback, while the latter assumes that people are receptive to environmental stimuli and learn from bottom-up processes, without mediating inferences and support from external feedback, only exploratory observations and actions.Study I investigates selective supervised learning and showed that biased beliefs arise when people store inferences about category members when information is partially absent. This constructivist coding of pseudo-exemplars in memory yields a conservative bias in the relative frequency of targeted category members when the information is constrained by the decision maker’s own selective sampling behavior, suggesting that niche picking and risk aversion contribute to conservatism or inertia in human belief systems. However, a liberal bias in the relative frequency of targeted category members is more likely when information is constrained by the external environment. This result suggests that highly exaggerated beliefs and risky behaviors may be more likely in environments where information is systematically manipulated, for example when positive examples are highlighted to convey a favorable image while negative examples are systematically withheld from the public eye.Study II provides support that the learning modes engage different processes. Supervised learning is more accurate in less complex linear task environments, while unsupervised learning is more accurate in complex nonlinear task environments. Study III provides further support for abstraction based on hypothesis testing in supervised learning, and abstraction based on receptive bottom-up processes in unsupervised learning that aimed to form ideal prototypes as highly valid reference points stored in memory. The studies support previous proposals that integrating the Brunswikian and the Gibsonian approach can broaden the scope of psychological research and scientific inquiry.
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| 10. |
- Holmberg, Linnéa, 1983-
(författare)
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Konsten att producera lärande demokrater
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation builds on the basic question of how individuals are formed and created as citizens in society today, and how individuals construct themselves as citizens in this society. It takes interest in how they are managed to govern themselves through specific constructions of citizenship, and looks at how the exercise of power establishes certain knowledge that affects their view of themselves and generates truths about how they are expected to live their lives. Simultaneously, the dissertation deals with the concept of freedom: what does it mean in contemporary society, how can one be free today, and what dangers might this liberty involve?In a broad sense, the analysis centres on the relationship between education and society; more specifically, it engages with the Swedish education system and its construction and production of desirable citizen subjects. The concrete example deals with the institution called leisure-time centre, with a purpose to investigate and problematise how institutionalised leisure-time is staged and legitimised in Sweden today. The studies take as a common starting point the following research question: how are children and personnel governed discursively in and through leisure-time centres?The first empirical contribution provides historical context for the study. In this, the `problematic leisure-time´ of today is outlined based on education policy documents relevant for children aged 6–13 years. These texts are discussed together with similar texts gathered from two other periods in history in order to give perspective on aspects of the leisure-time centre that may seem obvious in our own time.The first separate article investigates how talk about activities in leisure-time centres is couched in terms of meaningfulness and consists of an analysis of the ideological tension between democracy and authority, which the governmental authority, the Swedish Schools Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen), must address in its discursive work. The second article explores how the production of systematic reporting and documentation by personnel in leisure-time centres works through specific self-technologies in the form of confessional practices and which can be said to be primarily about constructing a free but loyal collective subject.The third article problematises the use of democracy as a method to produce specific citizen subjects in leisure-time centres. Children’s councils are analysed, focusing on how different nuances of influence are staged discursively by participating children and personnel. The article highlights how democracy – through pastoral care and in the name of children’s influence – becomes a governmentalising technology that produces an active, responsible and learning citizen.In summary, this dissertation highlights how leisure-time centres are staged and legitimised in Sweden today. The analysis shows how an administration of children and control of the development of society through the autonomous, competent, and voluntarily active individual is apparent; power operates through a perceived freedom in a way that makes the free choice the `right´ choice. With political ideas about forming a forward-looking mentality, children – and personnel – are constructed as a project of learning and improvement.
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