This dissertation develops and analyzes differential equation-based mathematical models and efficient numerical methods and algorithms for genetic regulatory network identification. The primary objectives of the dissertation are to design, analyze, and test a general variational framework and numerical methods for seeking its approximate solutions for reverse engineering genetic regulatory networks from microarray datasets using the approach based on differential equation modeling. In the proposed variational framework, no structure assumption on the genetic network is presumed, instead, the network is solely determined by the microarray profile of the network components and is identified through a well chosen variational principle which minimizes a biological energy functional. The variational principle serves not only as a selection criterion to pick up the right biological solution of the underlying differential equation model but also provide an effective mathematical characterization of the small-world property of genetic regulatory networks which has been observed in lab experiments. Five specific models within the variational framework and efficient numerical methods and algorithms for computing their solutions are proposed and analyzed in the dissertation. Model validations using both synthetic network datasets and real world subnetwork datasets of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) and E. Coli are done on all five proposed variational models and a performance comparison vs some existing genetic regulatory network identification methods is also provided. As microarray data is typically noisy, in order to take into account the noise effect in the mathematical models, we propose a new approach based on stochastic differential equation modeling and generalize the deterministic variational framework to a stochastic variational framework which relies on stochastic optimization. Numerical algorithms are also proposed for computing solutions of the stochastic variational models. To address the important issue of post-processing computed networks to reflect the small-world property of underlying genetic regulatory networks, a novel threshholding technique based on the Random Matrix Theory is proposed and tested on various synthetic network datasets.

We establish a parameter-dependent pseudo-differential calculus on an infinite cylinder, regarded as a manifold with conical exits to infinity. The parameters are involved in edge-degenerate form, and we formulate the operators in terms of operator-valued amplitude functions.

Antisocial behaviour and alcohol problems are areas of great concern to society, not only associated with personal and emotional costs for the affected individuals and their victims, but also with major societal financial costs. What makes some individuals more likely than others to develop these kinds of problems? The general aim of this thesis was to explore the role of individual characteristics in the development of antisocial behaviour and alcohol problems. More specifically, the research focused on aspects of hyperactive behaviour, personality traits and biological vulnerability indicators in relation to self-reported norm breaking and violent behaviour, registered general criminality and violent offending in particular, and further, on risky alcohol use and drinking offences. The studies were based on both a prospective longitudinal project in which a group of adolescent male lawbreakers and controls were followed from the 1960s into the 1990s, and on more recently collected data on a representative group of Swedish male and female adolescents. The results of the thesis supported that neuropsychological deficits, manifested in attention difficulties, and personality traits reflecting disinhibition and negative emotionality, influence the development of antisocial behaviour and risky alcohol use, which in turn increases the risk of subsequent alcohol problems. The findings indicated, furthermore, that these neuropsychological deficits may be associated with an underlying biological vulnerability to various forms of disinhibitory psychopathology. Although the thesis focuses on individual characteristics, the results also support the view that environmental risk factors such as the influence of family and peers and possible stress experiences, play an important role. It was emphasized that individual characteristics continuously interact with environmental conditions in shaping each individual’s developmental course. Results also revealed that adolescent females displaying violent behaviour and engaging in potentially harmful use of alcohol deviated more in personality traits than did the corresponding group of males. Further knowledge of the development of these problems in females is crucial, since most theories in this area have been developed primarily on male samples.

Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka sambandet mellan elevers attityder, subjektiv norm, upplevd kontroll, intentioner, rättfärdiganden, motivation samt självvärdering i relation till benägenhet att fuska eller att avstå från att fuska. The theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 2006) har använts som teoretisk modell för en enkätundersökning med 122 elever i grundskolans årskurs 9 och i gymnasieskolans årskurser 2–3. Resultatet av studien visar att intentionen att utföra ett beteende, som i denna studie är fusk, är den viktigaste prediktorn för beteendet i fråga. I föreliggande studie har även kunnat styrkas att rättfärdigande av eget fusk har en avgörande roll vad gäller beteende och intention. De övriga variablerna har en viss betydelse med inte i lika hög grad som intention och rättfärdigande.  Resultatet av studien har diskuterats utifrån intentionen och rättfärdigandets starka samband med beteendet.

The purpose of this study is to research into the role of the citizen and the educational system in Sweden throughout periods of time based on previous theoretic works, and also to deepen the understanding of students with special needs in Swedish education focusing on the primary school years. This shall be carried out by illustrating the different points of view and choices within the educational system that are at hand for students with concentration difficulties and social difficulties. I will analyze these points through a cultural and social perspective on contemporary society in order to contribute towards today’s discourse on the norm. The result of this empirical investigation presents a dilemma existing in the democratic educational system of today. Nationally and internationally, the educational system has been structured around a normative system containing both rights and duties that effect everyone working within it. It is not seldom that the rights of the individual collide with collective duties within the school. This study shows that the educational system, and society at large, is founded upon a norm shaping the way people exist, behave and act within its boundaries. When an individual cannot live up to it’s ideals society perceives this as a fault that needs correcting. The students that cannot live up to the standards and the ideas of the system become marginalised in society. These students become exposed to various tests performed by the school’s professionals as a means to redefining the individual in question

The aim of this study is to describe and analyse norms of behaviour in rhetoric and practice in Swedish classroom cultures with the aid of theories of gender and power. The study is based on observations of and interviews with pupils and teachers in three ninth form classes. On the basis of the six themes of the thesis, common norms of behaviour are on the whole discernible. The relation between rhetoric and practice may be summarised in the following way: the pupils and teachers express a desire for order and clear rules that are followed. If the rules are not followed, the pupils demand consistent and motivated consequences. The study shows, however, the everyday life at school does not work in this way but that there is some discrepancy between practice and rhetoric. The values stated in the curriculum, for example respect, solidarity and taking responsibility, are expressed in both the pupils’ and the teachers’ rhetoric. The values are used to describe a certain action or to motivate the norms of behaviour that are described as desirable. / Denna studies syfte är att med hjälp av teorier om kön och makt beskriva och analysera uppförandenormer i retorik och praktik i svenska klassrumskulturer. Studien är baserad på observationer och intervjuer med elever och lärare i tre niondeklasser. Utifrån avhandlingens sex teman framträder i huvudsak gemensamma uppförandenormer i de tre skolorna. Relationen mellan retorik och praktik kan sammanfattas på följande sätt: elever och lärare uttrycker en önskan om ordning och tydliga regler som efterföljs. Om reglerna inte följs, efterfrågar eleverna konsekventa och motiverade påföljder. Studien visar dock att skolvardagen inte fungerar på det viset, utan det råder en viss diskrepans mellan praktik och retorik. Läroplanens framskrivna värden, exempelvis respekt, solidaritet och ansvarstagande, framträder i både elevers och lärares retorik. Dessa värden används för att förklara ett visst handlande eller motivera de uppförandenormer som beskrivs som önskvärda.

In late January 2000, the EU14 initiated a protest co-ordinated by the Portuguese EU Presidency against the coalition between Wolfgang Schüssel’s ÖVP and Jörg Haider’s right-wing extremist/populist FPÖ, accused of violating EU fundamental values expressed in Article 6(1) TEU. When the government took office on 4 February diplomatic ‘sanctions’ were launched. During spring, the EU14’s wider interpretations of the sanctions, clumsy handling of Austrian countermeasures and deficient strategy on dismantling the protest contributed to crisis escalation. The solution was the appointment of so-called ‘wise men’ to evaluate the political nature of the FPÖ and the effects of the EU14’s ‘diplomatic whipping’ on government policies. Shortly after the Wise Men Report was published the EU14 lifted the ‘sanctions’ unconditionally, but insistent question marks remained. At the informal European Council meeting in Biarritz 13-14 October, the EU14 and the Austrian government agreed on amendments to the trigger mechanisms for the ‘sanctions article’, Article 7 TEU, incorporated in the Nice Treaty from December 2000. This study argues that the EU14’s interests and preferences concerning Article 6(1) TEU, coupled with a consensus-reflex and imagined and ‘real’ time pressure manifested in groupthink and ‘tele groupthink’, a concept including telephone diplomacy, affected the norm during its ‘journey’ through five stages: warning, implementation, crisis escalation, crisis de-escalation, and consequences. A central claim is that both self-interested behaviour and ideational/normative motives guided the EU14, but in a ‘more or less’ way. Mutually complementary arguments from both the rationalist and constructivist paradigms prove compelling in investigating this particularly complex and multi-faceted case. This study concludes that the EU14-Austria crisis resulted not in a rupture in the integration process, but in consolidation of EU fundamental values expressed in Article 6(1) TEU. Thanks to mixed experiences with the EU14’s ‘diplomatic whipping’ of the FPÖ-ÖVP government, the Union took another step towards tighter monitoring of Member States’ compliance with its constituent values. This step was reflected in amendments to Article 7 TEU. The EU14-Austria crisis, as here presented, illustrates the claim that Union-wide crises can have a positive effect on its normative foundation.

The purpose of this essay is to examine what can be considered as obscene in the work of Joel Peter Witkin and Marc Quinn, what the similarities and differences are. The essay concerns the human body, the norms around it and the old vision of the ideal body. To get closer to my question I’ve been examine the meaning of anti-ideal, what it means and what kind of history it has. The works I’ve been using to reach to my purpose are Marc Quinn’s sculpture Alison Lapper (2005) and Joel Peter Witkin’s photography Abundance (1997). Both of the works are taking the position that use to belong to the classical beauty. The analysis of these works focuses on the old classical symbol interpretation, the character of the work and the doubt in the old ideal norms of the classical beauty.

Detta examensarbete är en studie hur en gymnasieskola arbetar kring norm och HBT. Studien syftar till att visa hur skolor arbetar idag och hur den undersökta skolans arbete kan förbättras utifrån ett specialpedagog perspektiv. Uppsatsen inleds med en litteraturstudie där skolans traditionella arbete och möjlighet till förändring bearbetas. Den andra delen av uppsatsen är en analys av den undersökta skolans likabehandlingsplan och hur HBT behandlas i densamma. Den tredje delen av uppsatsen består av en enkätstudie som syftar till att undersöka hur lärare upplever området HBT och skolan. Resultatet visar att den undersökta skolan tenderar att bedriva ett klassiskt normarbete med heteronormativitet som grund. Skolan skiljer sig också från skolverkets rekommendationer när det gäller arbetet med likabehandlingsplanen. Enkätundersökningen visar att lärare tenderar att anse att skolan som helhet skall betrakta HBT området ur ett normalperspektiv men att denna betraktelse inte behöver genomsyra hela skolans verksamhet. Området är ett intresseområde för specialpedagogen ur såväl förändringssynvinkel där det finns flera uppdrag att fylla på den undersökta skolan, men även ur en synvinkel där alla elever skall bemötas på bästa sätt i en skola.

The purpose of this dissertation was to, from the point of view of interaction, study how the factors group size, group composition, group norm and problem type influenced group problem solving. Three classroom studies were performed in grades four and five of the Swedish nine-year compulsory school. In addition to the participants in various pilot studies, the experiment included 1146 pupils. The performance was measured both regarding group results and the individual short-term and long-term retention of knowledge. A fifth factor, group productivity, was formed on the basis of these two measurement values.Group size 1, 2, 3 and 6 were studied. The group composition was defined on the basis of, on one hand, the ability levels high, middle and low and, on the other, on the basis of sex. The group norms were included through instructions about cooperation and competition. A third group norm, so-called free norms, was also introduced. Two problem types were used. One of them was designed so that the other group members would easily be able to judge if a response from one of the group members was correct or not (high accessibility). The other problem type was defined in terms of low accessibility. The first study included the factors group size and group composition (ability), the second study included group composition (sex), group norm, problem type and group productivity, and the third study included all five factors. The factor group size turned out to be of great importance and interacted with each of the other factors. Only high ability pupils could make use of group size in interaction with e. g. the factor group composition. Group composition was also interesting regarding sex. Co-operation favoured girls and competition favoured boys. The results also indicate that girls remember what they learn better than boys. Interactions between the factor group norm and the factors group size, problem type and group productivity showed that, in no case, did co-operation produce poorer results than competition and free norms. Various interactions with the factor problem type and other factors showed that larger group sizes are more favourable to the solving of problems with a high accessibility than to the solving of problems with a low accessibility. However, the individual group members had a better recollection of the solutions to problems with a low accessibility than to problems with a high accessibility. The factor group productivity was included in interactions with each of the other factors and in the three-way and four-way interactions. These interactions indicate that the factor group productivity, in terms of both group results and individual results, is an important factor in group research and in other classroom research.By way of conclusion, the results are discussed regarding educational implications and continued research. / digitalisering@umu