This thesis examines everyday food practices such as sensed by seven households in the city ofStockholm, Sweden. By sensuously exploring the acts of acquiring, preparing, cooking, eating,and wasting food, I analyze how food is a matter of olfactory, gustatory, auditory, tactile, andvisual significance, as much as matter per se. More specifically, I address relational andbounded aspects of food, looking at how ambient surroundings, presences of material andimmaterial factors, sensuously influence everyday experiences of food. Intrigued by the at onceinter-, extra-, and re-corporeal matters of food, I analytically position myself alongside Latour,Ingold, Douglas, and Bennett. In entertaining their theoretical lines of thoughts, using them asanalytical springboards, this thesis explores socio-material dimensions of food practices, as wellas corporeal dynamics of human-material encounters. Methodologically carried out by meansof sensuous ethnography, following Pink’s notion of participatory practice, I have during tenweeks of fieldwork—in people’s homes and in their frequented grocery stores—engaged mysenses to experientially sense the world of food, such as lived by them. In our conjoint sensorialexploration, taken-for-granted mundane understandings of what food constitutes and whatconstitutes it, have emerged as domestically diverse, bounded to sensuous perceptionsderivative of the past, carried out in the presents, and cor(po)related to the future. By surveyingsituated meanings of what is smelled when savored, tasted when flavored, seen when looked,and felt when touched, simultaneously as accounting for nonhuman matters salient to coursesof actions, the thesis remarks context-sensorial-imbued figurations of everyday food.

Thesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / Healthcare facilities in South Africa accumulate big data, daily. However, this data is not being utilised to its full potential. The healthcare sector still uses traditional methods to store, process, and analyse data. Currently, there are no big data analytics tools being used in the South African healthcare environment. This study was conducted to establish what factors hinder the effective use of big data in the South African healthcare environment. To fulfil the objectives of this research, qualitative methods were followed. Using the case study method, two healthcare organisations were selected as cases. This enabled the researcher to find similarities between the cases which drove them towards generalisation. The data collected in this study was analysed using the Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Through the application of ANT, the researcher was able to uncover the influencing factors behind big data analytics in the healthcare environment. ANT was essential to the study as it brought out the different interactions that take place between human and non-human actors, resulting in big data. From the analysis, findings were drawn and interpreted. The interpretation of findings led to the developed framework in Figure 5.5. This framework was developed to guide the healthcare sector of South Africa towards the selection of appropriate big data analytics tools. The contribution of this study is in twofold; namely, theoretically and practically. Theoretically, the developed framework will act as a useful guide towards the selection of big data analytics tools. Practically, this guide can be used by South African healthcare practitioners to gain better understanding of big data analytics and how they can be used to improve healthcare service delivery.

Consensus conferences evolved as a response to the public's increasing dissatisfaction with technocratic decision-making processes that are judged to have repeatedly failed to serve its interests. The staging of the first Australian consensus conference at Old Parliament House in Canberra in March 1999 therefore presented an ideal opportunity to analyse the evolution of this new kind of policy input from its conception through to its implementation and subsequent evaluation. This thesis set out to provide an analysis of that trajectory using elements of the theoretical approach known as actor-network theory (ANT). Previous analyses of consensus conferences have generally provided only limited evaluations of single aspects of the entire process of setting up, implementing and evaluating such a conference. Furthermore, many of the early evaluations were conducted by reviewers or units which were themselves internal to the consensus conference under scrutiny. My own analysis has tried to offer broader, although inevitably less detailed, coverage, using a perspective from contemporary social theory that offers particular advantages in analysing the creation of short-term networks designed for specific purposes. By describing and analysing the role of this relatively new policy-making instrument, I have explored the different sub-networks that operate within the consensus conference process by focussing on the ways in which the conference was organised and how the relationships between the organisers and the participants helped to shape the outcomes. Thus the entire consensus conference sequence from idea to outcome can be thought of as a construction of a network to achieve at least one immediate goal. That goal was a single potential policy input, a consensus position embodied in the report of the lay panel. To realise that goal, the network needed to be recruited and stabilised and its members made to converge on that collective statement. But how is it that a range of disparate actors, including lay and expert, are mobilised to achieve that particular goal and what are the stabilisation devices which enable, or fail to enable this goal to be reached? In the context of the first Australian consensus conference, three key alignment devices emerged: texts, money and people. Yet it is clear from the evidence that some of these network stabilisation devices functioned poorly or not at all. This thesis has drawn attention to the areas in which they were weak and what importance that weakness had for the kind of policy outcome the consensus conference achieved. The role and extent of these powerful stabilisation devices in networks was therefore a vital issue for analysis. If one of the criteria to evaluate the success of a consensus conference is that it provides the stimulus to hold another, then the Australian conference must be deemed so far a failure. No further Australian consensus conference is planned. However, Australia stands to forfeit a number of advantages if no further consensus conferences or similar occasions are organised. Policy formation in contemporary democracies has had to accommodate an increasing array of new participants in order to track more effectively the diversity of potentially significant opinions on complex policy issues. This process requires new and transparent ways to educate and inform the public on policy issues and to ensure that policy makers are better informed about the needs and concerns of their community. As the evidence presented in thesis for the Australian example and its predecessors overseas suggests, consensus conferences have the potential to play a role in the contemporary policy-making context. But the realisation of that potential will vary according to their institutional contexts and the capacity of the actors to create the temporarily most stable and productive network out of the heterogeneous human and material resources to hand.

Previous studies of the design studio have tended to treat learning to design as a matter of learning to think in the right way, despite the recognition that material artifacts and the ability to make and manipulate them in architectural ways is important to the design process. Through the use of empirical data gathered from watching design teachers and students in action, this thesis works to discover how material things and bodies are important to the fabrication of architectural meaning and architectural subjectivity within design studios. In particular the role of gesture is highlighted as doing important work in design studio knowledge practices. / The approach taken in this thesis is to treat design activity in design studios in a ‘post-human’ way. An analytical eye is turned to how things and people perform together and are organised in various ways, using Actor network theory (ANT) as a way to orientate the investigation. The assumption drawn from ANT is that that architectural meaning, knowledge and identity can positioned as network effects, enacted into being as the design studio is ‘done’ by the various actors — including material things, such as architectural representations, and human behaviours, such as gesture. / Gesture has been largely ignored by design studio researchers, perhaps because it tends to operate below the threshold of conscious awareness. Gesture is difficult to study because the meanings of most gestures produced during conversations are spontaneous and provisional. Despite this humans seem to be good interpreters of gesture. When studied in detail, ongoing design studio activity is found to rely on the intelligibility of gesture done in ‘architectural ways’. The main site for the observation of gesture during this study was the ‘desk crit’ where teachers and students confer about work in progress. In the data gathered for this thesis gesture is found to operate with representations in three key ways: explaining and describing architectural composition, ‘sticking’ spoken meanings strategically to representations and conveying the phenomenological experience of occupying architectural space – the passing of time, quality of light, texture and movement. / Despite the fact that most of the work of the thesis centres on human behaviour, the findings about the role of gesture and representation trouble the idea of the human as being at the centre of the action, putting the bodies of teachers and students amongst a crowd of non human others who participate together in design knowledge making practices.

<p>This thesis focuses on the internationalization process of SMEs, the strategies and methods they use. The major aim of this research was to gain a better understanding of the process by comparing and analyzing three main internationalization process theories: the Uppsala model, network theory and international entrepreneurship theory. An essential part of this study consisted of gathering empirical data from SMEs that has already been internationalized as well as from some of those who intend to internationalize in the near future. Our findings show the application and usefulness of the three theories to these SMEs, especially their heavy reliance on network relationships. The findings also indicate that firms use a combination of variables from all three theories and some aspects of the much criticized Uppsala model are still significant in describing the internationalization process behavior of SMEs.</p>

<p>This thesis is an effort to analyze the importance of business network partners for successful participation in trade shows for small firms to grow more in international markets. This study would be helpful to demonstrate the value of trade shows. Trade shows provide the opportunities to introduce new products, expand network connection, and enhancing firm’s corporate image. To participate in any trade show may be a very lucrative process, but there are many challenges and tasks which are to be met to get the maximum share of international market. </p><p>To analyse the effectiveness of business network for successful participation in trade shows, I have included one case study of trade shows, named Beauty World 2009, held at Frankfurt Germany. In this show, among the firms from all over the world, 16 small companies manufacturing beauty instruments, companies from my home city, namely Sialkot, Pakistan, also participated. Their experiences, participation, views and observation will also be used to analyze the importance of trade show for creating new business networks through this show.</p><p>This research indicates the effectiveness of network member providing support to small and growing firms for successful participation in trade shows. With the help of these network members, trade shows can be used as exclusive platforms to introduce new firms, as well as products, to potential consumers. In general, we can indicate that existing network partners, if mobilized accordingly, have the ability to reduce the overall cost incurred at trade shows.</p>

<p>The aim of this study is to find out the dynamics of rice supply chains and their impacts on the small-scale rice producer in Magugu village. The problem addressed in this study is the changes in the food trading paradigm and how it is shaping power relations at a local level. The empirical material in this study has been collected during a fieldtrip to the Babati district in Tanzania from the 25th of February to the 19th of March (2008). The First Mile Project (FMP) in Tanzania had the purpose to teach farmers how to build more equal and efficient supply chains and linking the producer to the consumer. A comparison between a regular rice supply chain and one involved in the FMP was made to explore how the two was forming in the changing food trade paradigm and how the farmers were adapting to this fact. Several methods were employed in this study. These include: case study method, qualitative methods, and secondary data. The results in this study was analysed with the use of the Global Value Chain (GVC) analysis and the Network theory. The conclusion was that depending on how the networks and the power relations within them, actors in the leading position in the GVC determines how the product is going to be: produced, processed, and marketed, at what time and to what price and establish requirements of the GVC. The rice farmers involved in the FMP were the once most able to adapt to the requirements of the GVC and food trading paradigm because of the cooperation among the group and good relations with other actors along the supply chain.</p>

<p>FRAGMENTERAD SAMMANFATTNING</p><p>Aktörerna i Stockholms läns landsting simulerar marknad och konkurrens och är väl medvetna om att de gör detta (Den Stora Upphandlingen; en inre marknad inom ramen för en förvaltningsstyrd struktur). Det är inte det denna alternativa berättelse om konkurrens avslöjar. Aktörerna vet precis vad de försöker göra när de försöker organisera hälso- och sjukvården i Stockholms läns landsting genom att låta sig influeras av andra ”världar”. En särskilt relevant ”annan värld” är ekonomen och ekonomisk teori. Men i den till synes medvetna processen händer något, det uppstår komplexitet; det uppträder många olika världar som cirkulerar i Stockholms läns landsting. Men översättningsprocessen av konkurrens stannar inte här. Aktörerna intensifierar sina ansträngningar för att komma tillrätta med det som blivit komplicerat. Nya förslag på hur hälso- och sjukvården ska organiseras konstrueras, där var och en för fram Det Bästa Sättet för att komma till rätta med de observerade problemen. Situationen och tillvaron blir fördunklad och ekonomisk teori har nu översatts så många gånger, av så många olika aktörer, att det cirkulerar otaliga kopior av den. Det är processen av förenkling, komplexitet och fördunkling som är essensen i min re-presentation och i mina anspråk på att försöka förstå konkurrensprocesser. En essens som jag fångar och illustrerar med hur aktörer i aktörsnätverk översätter (associerar, enrollerar och etiketterar) den neoklassiska marknaden.</p><p>Men annat står också på spel. Aktörer översätter såväl människor som ting samtidigt som ting i sin tur influerar mänskliga föreställningar och ageranden. Men tings förmåga att konstruera människor är begränsat eftersom ting agerar utifrån givna koder, en given Ordning, (som givetvis kan bryta samman och ta oanade vägar, till exempel dataprogram), men som i sig är fyllda av mänskliga avsikter och intentioner. Vissa ”sociotekniska” ting är designade att centrera ”världar”, exempelvis Stockholms läns landsting uttryckt i siffror i en årsredovisning. Likafullt är det bara människor som, i processerna av förenkling, komplexitet och fördunkling, kan träda fram och konstruera och centrera heterogent materiella världar, men genom att centrera mängder av heterogena material (såväl människor som ting) förmår ting visa epistemologiska möjligheter för mänskligt agerande. Människor kan med andra ord färdas långt ut i världen med hjälp av ting. En empirisk observation är att ju längre aktörerna, i hälso- och sjukvården i Stockholms läns landsting, reser i de centrerade heterogent materiella världarna desto mer närsynta blir de samtidigt som potentialen att orsaka allvarliga sidoeffekter blir större och större. En annan empirisk observation i studien är att sidoeffekter hanteras på samma sätt i den nationalekonomiska neoklassiska teorin som i hälso- och sjukvårdens praktik, där internaliserade och väl avgränsade ekonomiska transaktioner antas utgöra normen och sidoeffekter undantagen på marknaden. Istället förhåller sig det precis tvärtom: Sidoeffekter är normen och internaliserade och väl avgränsade ekonomiska transaktioner utgör undantagen.</p>

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FRAGMENTERAD SAMMANFATTNING Aktörerna i Stockholms läns landsting simulerar marknad och konkurrens och är väl medvetna om att de gör detta (Den Stora Upphandlingen; en inre marknad inom ramen för en förvaltningsstyrd struktur). Det är inte det denna alternativa berättelse om konkurrens avslöjar. Aktörerna vet precis vad de försöker göra när de försöker organisera hälso- och sjukvården i Stockholms läns landsting genom att låta sig influeras av andra ”världar”. En särskilt relevant ”annan värld” är ekonomen och ekonomisk teori. Men i den till synes medvetna processen händer något, det uppstår komplexitet; det uppträder många olika världar som cirkulerar i Stockholms läns landsting. Men översättningsprocessen av konkurrens stannar inte här. Aktörerna intensifierar sina ansträngningar för att komma tillrätta med det som blivit komplicerat. Nya förslag på hur hälso- och sjukvården ska organiseras konstrueras, där var och en för fram Det Bästa Sättet för att komma till rätta med de observerade problemen. Situationen och tillvaron blir fördunklad och ekonomisk teori har nu översatts så många gånger, av så många olika aktörer, att det cirkulerar otaliga kopior av den. Det är processen av förenkling, komplexitet och fördunkling som är essensen i min re-presentation och i mina anspråk på att försöka förstå konkurrensprocesser. En essens som jag fångar och illustrerar med hur aktörer i aktörsnätverk översätter (associerar, enrollerar och etiketterar) den neoklassiska marknaden. Men annat står också på spel. Aktörer översätter såväl människor som ting samtidigt som ting i sin tur influerar mänskliga föreställningar och ageranden. Men tings förmåga att konstruera människor är begränsat eftersom ting agerar utifrån givna koder, en given Ordning, (som givetvis kan bryta samman och ta oanade vägar, till exempel dataprogram), men som i sig är fyllda av mänskliga avsikter och intentioner. Vissa ”sociotekniska” ting är designade att centrera ”världar”, exempelvis Stockholms läns landsting uttryckt i siffror i en årsredovisning. Likafullt är det bara människor som, i processerna av förenkling, komplexitet och fördunkling, kan träda fram och konstruera och centrera heterogent materiella världar, men genom att centrera mängder av heterogena material (såväl människor som ting) förmår ting visa epistemologiska möjligheter för mänskligt agerande. Människor kan med andra ord färdas långt ut i världen med hjälp av ting. En empirisk observation är att ju längre aktörerna, i hälso- och sjukvården i Stockholms läns landsting, reser i de centrerade heterogent materiella världarna desto mer närsynta blir de samtidigt som potentialen att orsaka allvarliga sidoeffekter blir större och större. En annan empirisk observation i studien är att sidoeffekter hanteras på samma sätt i den nationalekonomiska neoklassiska teorin som i hälso- och sjukvårdens praktik, där internaliserade och väl avgränsade ekonomiska transaktioner antas utgöra normen och sidoeffekter undantagen på marknaden. Istället förhåller sig det precis tvärtom: Sidoeffekter är normen och internaliserade och väl avgränsade ekonomiska transaktioner utgör undantagen.