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In the course of my dissertation work, I have sought knowledge about what New Age is, contains, and conveys by looking at practice and rhetoric, how the participants act and reason regarding their commitment, as well as how the contents of the field is discussed. I have put an emphasis on the small details: the objects, the rituals, and the narrating. Using the tarot cards as a starting point, the
The aim of the study is to improve the understanding of strategy in politically governed organisations. From the perspective of a specific responsible authority the main purpose of the study is to describe and analyse how strategies emerge and develop. Competitive tendering and inter-municipal co-operation, has been studied as a two principally different strategic approaches to reduce costs and st
The objective of the present work was to investigate the mixing process in static mixers under laminar flow conditions, and in pipes during the displacement of dissimilar liquids. A numerical scheme and a method of characterizing static mixers were developed. The effects of changes in geometry, flow rate, viscosity ratio and volumetric flow rate ratio on the mixing process were investigated using
Optimisation in diagnostic radiology requires accurate methods for determination of patient absorbed dose and clinical image quality. Simple methods for evaluation of clinical image quality are at present scarce and this project aims at developing such methods. Two methods are used and further developed; fulfilment of image criteria (IC) and visual grading analysis (VGA). Clinical image quality de
Complex biological and environmental samples require a high degree of selectivity in order to determine components therein. Sensitivity measures, such as analyte pre-concentration are often required for assessing composition quantitatively. Use of membranes and especially non-porous membranes for extraction purposes offers in many cases the desired measure of selectivity and sensitivity for trace
European agriculture is facing the challenge of managing the impact of climate change on food security. Agriculture in a northern temperate climate is likely to benefit from higher temperature and longer growing season while, in the south, crop productivity is likely to decline. Such changes in climate could also affect the population dynamics of insect pests. The Colorado potato beetle (CPB) is o
Value-based management has attracted considerable interest among organizations and academics in recent years. Responding to calls for case-based research, this thesis describes, analyses and conceptualizes value-based management as a management accounting construct. While previous research has focused on the measures (eg. EVA) advanced in the normative literature, this analysis demonstrates that
The main objective of this work was to construct practical analytical systems for the analysis of environmental and biological samples, using membrane-based techniques for sample pretreatment and chromatography for final analysis. Two types of membrane processes have been applied, with emphasis on automation. The supported liquid membrane (SLM) extraction was carried out in an automated continuou
This doctoral dissertation has aimed to contribute to a modern theory of the firm that balances a disciplining view of the firm with an enabling view of the firm. This has been approached through exploring how corporate governance mechanisms influence entrepreneurship at the organisational level, in a frame of property rights. As such, the research model that guides the dissertation depicts a mode
This thesis is about the residents and employees at three group homes for older people suffering from dementia. The empirical data comprises princi- pally of participant observation and interviews with caregivers. The aim of the dissertation is to describe and understand what happens during daily life at a group home for elderly suffering from dementia. The ambition is to understand the patterns o
The evolutionary history of the allotetraploid Arabidopsis suecica and its maternal parent Arabidopsis thaliana is analyzed in the thesis in terms of genetic variation in the natural populations of the two species. The earliest phase of the speciation event in which the genomes of A. thaliana and A. suecica are in the process of diverging was investigated using population genetic methods. Evolutio
This paper consists of two, somewhat disparate parts. In the first part, some experiences of two years of fieldwork are summarized, concentrating, as the subtitle suggests, on the very heart of phonetic fieldwork: the encounters and interviews with the informants. As a result of the fieldwork, the project now has access to recordings from approximately 1300 speakers of more than 100 dialects of Sw
The thesis addresses different questions, each necessary in the understanding of dynamic fracture initiation and crack propagation in steel. Emphasis lays on dynamic crack propagation experiments performed in the ductile to brittle transition region and possible conclusions, that can be drawn from them. One question regards the physical basis for for viscoplasticity. Dislocation slip by thermal a
Using optical spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and differential scanning Calorimetry (DSC), I have studied two different calcium binding proteins that can form kinetically trapped altered states. Calcium is very important in numerous biological processes such as blood coagulation, signal transduction, muscle contraction and bone formation. Calcium binding to proteins regulates these
There is a strong desire for short wavelength (~1 Å), short pulsewidth (<100 fs), high-brightness, transverse and longitudinally coherent light pulses for use by the synchrotron radiation community. These requirements exceed the limits achievable by existing, so-called, "third-generation" light sources, such as the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), USA, the Europea
In this thesis, I have studied in situ the resource economy of the three carnivorous plant species Pinguicula alpina, P. villosa and P. vulgaris in a subarctic environment. The prey capture varied among individual plants, years and species. It was higher in young leaves then in old ones. P. vulgaris captured more prey that the other species and reproductive individuals of P. vulgaris captured more
The dissertation focuses on the Haredi (ultra-orthodox Jewish) journal The Jewish Observer, published since 1963 by Agudath Israel of America, suggesting that the publisher uses the journal as an instrument to help the readers to maintain a distinct Haredi identity in urban, non-Haredi environments and not only in their own, isolated milieu. The articles of the journal are understood as resources,
In times when dwindling energy resources is a major long-term problem for sustaining modern infrastructure and technologies, we need to focus on more enduring solutions. A key contribution to this achievement is catalysis. In order to further develop the significant advancements gained over the last several decades, a deeper understanding of the catalytic processes has to be sought down to the lev
The complex character of rural landscapes implies a constant interaction between mind and matter as well as between nature and society. In landscapes, the established division of reality into nature and culture appears all but natural. This book points to the possibilities of regarding landscape as a dialectical process. Landscape is here used as an analytical device to examine nature-culture rela
