Using Grounded theory this thesis analyses the forms of support that are present on two online anorexia forums. Data was collected through non-participant observation and online interviews with members of two online anorexia forums, one pro-anorexic in orientation, one pro-recovery. Despite the clear differences that exist between the two communities, continuities are strongly apparent, especially when looking at these forums as support environments. This thesis illustrates that support is conditional, that is takes on a variety of forms in any one environment and highlights the role of offline discourses in shaping online support. It also provides an in-depth comparison of two online anorexia forums.

How did the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children protect children in post war Glasgow? The analysis in this study of the 'construction' of child protection is centred upon three questions relating to the practice of the RSSPCC: What forms did intervention take? Who was the focus of practice? How and why did practice change during the 30 year period, 1960-1990, of this study? The period 1960-1990 witnessed rapid political, economic and social changes which contributed to the recognition by the state of social problems which affected families. The RSSPCC (founded in 1884) was established by the beginning of the twentieth century as the principal arm of the state in the investigation and prosecution of child abuse and neglect throughout Scotland. The Society sustained this key role up to the middle of the 1970s and then lost it completely in 1992. This study is not a history of the RSSPCC. However an historical perspective was adopted to further understanding of the organisation's role in Scottish society and in the lives of families whose standards of parenting were causing concern. The sources of that concern were found often within the family. Many mothers (less often fathers) sought assistance from the RSSPCC only to find themselves subjects of intense scrutiny and intervention. The analysis and conclusions of this study are derived from: the RSSPCC case records of intervention in the lives of 1,500 families, the records of 120 prosecutions of parents for cruelty and or neglect, a selection of Annual Reports from 1889 to 1993, and interviews with 51 RSSPCC staff. A theoretical framework which brought historical sociology, post structuralist models of power and feminism together with the concept of 'Adocentrism' (the unswerving allegiance to adult values) was developed to illuminate the puzzles, paradoxes and complexities of the changing constructions of child protection. This study concludes that the 'construction' of child protection developed and changed in response to a number of factors. However, the power to define and negotiate the subjects and boundaries of intervention was invariably retained by the professionals and furthermore the focus of that intervention was predominantly with and between adults.

The primary aim of this study is to explore women offenders' experiences of, contact with, and delivery of, community-based health and social care services. Women offenders represent a particularly disadvantaged and silent group in society whose views have largely been disregarded in previous studies. More specifically, there has been a general lack of attention to their experiences of trying to meet their welfare needs before and after they encounter the Criminal Justice System (CJS). This research sought to provide a more informed understanding of what participants wanted to convey about their lived realities, the meaning of their experiences of help-seeking and their perceptions of appropriate responses to their welfare needs. The study was local, purposive and applied. It was underpinned by feminist epistemology and qualitative, heuristic and collaborative methodology. Reflexive dimensions were an integral part of the whole research process. It was also strengthened by a wish to change policy and practice as a direct consequence of hearing and taking account of service users' standpoints on experiencing those policies and practices. Of central importance was a desire to view women offenders not as research 'subjects' but as 'participants' in a process which would put their views and perspectives at the centre of the study. Therefore, before embarking on the study, I set up a research advisory group as a means of collaborating with women who had direct and personal experience of the CJS as 'expert advisers', to help guide and develop the research. I also sought ways of working collaboratively with research participants, for example, by utilising research methods such as participant observation and semi-structured interviews and asking participants to provide feedback on how I had written up my interactions with them. I also incorporated participant and gatekeeper evaluation methods to seek their views on their experiences of the research. The original contributions to the body of knowledge and understanding that this research makes are in the identification of characteristics of a service generic model of communitybased welfare provision. This relates particularly to the attitudes and behaviours of and delivery by service providers and individual practitioners. It is also framed in the context of participants' shared experience of domestic violence and its impact on their help-seeking from welfare services which was previously hidden and unknown. In addition, the study adds to feminist social research methodology through the development of a feminist and heuristic approach to collaborative research that seeks to involve the 'knowers' in an innovative way, that is, as 'expert advisers', throughout the research process. The profound and lasting impact is the clarity of its core findings: what emerge from women who participated in this work are appeals for service providers, individual practitioners (and researchers) to be in relationship with them. Hence, there is a call for the reduction of destructive boundaries in relationships and the integration of reflexive practice, in both the provision of community-based welfare services and approaches to conducting research of this kind.

Alkoholkonsum beginnt häufig bereits im Jugendalter. Allerdings fehlen bisher Erkenntnisse darüber, ob, wie häufig und aufgrund welcher Merkmale Jugendlichen und junge Erwachsene auch bereits klinisch definierte Mißbrauchs- und Abhängigkeitsdiagnosen entwickeln. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Untersuchung an 3021 Jugendlichen im Alter von 14-24 Jahren vorgestellt. Neben der Prävalenz von Alkoholmißbrauch und -abhängigkeit nach DSM-IV werden Daten zur Häufigkeit und Menge des Alkoholkonsums berichtet sowie erste Symptome beschrieben. 9,7% der befragten Jugendlichen erhielten aufgrund von DSM-IV-Kriterien eine Mißbrauchsdiagnose, 6,2% eine Abhängigkeitsdiagnose. Bei männlichen Jugendlichen war die Prävalenz wesentlich höher als bei weiblichen. Die Prävalenz war in den älteren Geburtskohorten höher. Als erstes Missbrauchssymptom trat am häufigsten "Gebrauch mit körperlicher Gefährdung" (91,9%), als erstes Abhängigkeitssymptom "Toleranzentwicklung" (34,3%) auf. Erste diagnostische Kriterien einer Alkoholstörung traten zumeist deutlich vor dem 18. Lebensjahr auf. Diese Daten unterstreichen, daß Alkoholmißbrauch und -abhängigkeit bereits im Jugend- und frühen Erwachsenenalter häufig sind. / Alcohol use frequently begins in adolescence. However, only few studies have reported the prevalence of alcohol abuse disorders in adolescents. This paper reports results from a representative study in a sample of 3021 adolescents, aged 14-24 years. The Prevalence of alcohol abuse and dependence according to DSM-IV criteria, as well as the prevalence, frequency and quantity of alcohol abuse and a description of the first occuring symptoms, are presented here. Alcohol abuse was reported by 9.7% of respondents and alcohol dependence by 6.2%. Males were more likely to report an alcohol disorder than females, and the prevalence also increased in the older age cohorts. The most frequent initial symptoms were "hazardous use" (91.9%) for abuse and "tolerance" (34.3%) for dependence. First symptoms have been shown to occur long before the age of 18. These results show that even in adolescents and young adults alcohol abuse and dependence are frequent disorders.

The aim of the study was to show whether or not there exists, and if so, to understand, a common creativity, vision and imagination of the members of Småland’s Entrepreneurial Academy’s organisation. The method used for this research is the fictive narrative collage , which consists of the collection of fictive stories. The author has also made her own additions to the method. A composer composes songs to the narratives, two artists illustrate the narratives. The research is carried out on the total population within Småland’s Entrepreneurial Academy which consists of 10 permanent members of the organisation. The theory focuses on different areas, such as creativity, vision and imagination as well as on the entrepreneur and the organisation. The latter two to provide the research with a foundation for the whole. Analyses were carried out and interpreted by the author, coupled to the theory, but also with a starting point in the interpretations that the composer and artists made in their contributions. Theatrical metaphors are used to draw parallels and to make further clarifications in the interpretation and the texts. The results show that vision, imagination and creativity do exist and common characteristics have been able to be identified, such as the creativity of the entrepreneur and his or her desire to go his or her own way, to not enter into conflict with his or her own role. In the vision, there are common trains of thought, where a balance in life/existence is the most central. If imagination is allowed completely free flight, the research group will allow anarchy to reign.

<p>The aim of the study was to show whether or not there exists, and if so, to understand, a common creativity, vision and imagination of the members of Småland’s Entrepreneurial Academy’s organisation.</p><p>The method used for this research is the fictive narrative collage , which consists of the collection of fictive stories. The author has also made her own additions to the method. A composer composes songs to the narratives, two artists illustrate the narratives. The research is carried out on the total population within Småland’s Entrepreneurial Academy which consists of 10 permanent members of the organisation.</p><p>The theory focuses on different areas, such as creativity, vision and imagination as well as on the entrepreneur and the organisation. The latter two to provide the research with a foundation for the whole.</p><p>Analyses were carried out and interpreted by the author, coupled to the theory, but also with a starting point in the interpretations that the composer and artists made in their contributions. Theatrical metaphors are used to draw parallels and to make further clarifications in the interpretation and the texts.</p><p>The results show that vision, imagination and creativity do exist and common characteristics have been able to be identified, such as the creativity of the entrepreneur and his or her desire to go his or her own way, to not enter into conflict with his or her own role. In the vision, there are common trains of thought, where a balance in life/existence is the most central. If imagination is allowed completely free flight, the research group will allow anarchy to reign.</p>

- / Calcium salts are known as compounds and minerals and they have been extensively studied due to their rich morphology and applications. They are known as biominerals, cement additives. fillers, food additives etc. In the oil and gas production calcium sulfates, carbonates and silicates form tenaciously adhering scale deposits which may stop production if the problem is not tackled timely. The motivation for this work was the well known problem of sand production during oil recovery, which occurs when the production rate exceeds a critical value. The aim has been an attempt to develop an inexpensive and environmentally friendly method to consolidate soil and sand for building purposes. The work included in this thesis, is focused in the investigation of the physico-chemical conditions at which calcium salts precipitate acting as consolidating material for soil and sand. The marked differences in the physicochernical properties of the precipitating salts enabled us to investigate the relative efficiency of three different classes of calcium salts: sulfates, carbonates and phosphates. As a result. the present thesis is divided in three parts. In the first one, the spontaneous precipitation of calcium sulfate from supersaturated solutions and the inhibition by water soluble polymers was examined. Two kinds of polymers: three polyacrylates (PAA) with different molecular weights (2.000 (PAA1), 50,000 (PAA2) and 240.000 (PAA3)) and one co-polymer of polyacrylic with polystyrene sulfonate (PAA-PSS) were tested. Very low concentrations of all polymers tested, down to 6ppm, increased markedly the induction period preceding precipitation at supersaturations in which, in the absence of additives the precipitation was spontaneous. The “kinetic Langinuir” equation based on the assumption of Langmuir - type adsorption of the additives on the precipitating calcium sulfate dihydrate, gave satisfactory fit of the kinetic data. From the fit according to this model, the affinity constants for the polymer-gypsum surfaces were calculated. The order of the affinity was PSS>PAA3>PAA1>PAA2. The precipitation of calcium sulfate dihydrate in the presence of sand grains, resulted in crystals which formed weak bridges among the grains and the material in which precipitation took pace was rather poorly consolidated. The second part reports on the precipitation of calcium carbonate through the enzymatic production of carbonate ions. This newly proposed method is based upon the slow evolution of the supersaturation with respect to calcium carbonate in an aqueous environment, in which one of the components of the supersaturated solution (in our case carbonate) is slowly released by a source through the action of enzymes present in the aqueous medium. The work done concerning the development of the methodology of enzyme mediated calcium carbonate formation in aqueous media involved the following steps: (i) Investigation of the mechanism of urea (substrate) decomposition in the presence of jack bean urease (enzyme) through conductivity measurements. Urease exhibited a bell- shaped activity profile as a function of temperature with optimum value at 50CC. The reaction of urea decomposition in the presence of urease followed Michaelis-Menten type kinetics up to a concentration of about 250 mM. At concentrations exceeding 250 m.M, the reaction rate decreased as the carbonate source concentration increased, suggesting substrate inhibition. (ii) The effect of various parameters, such as temperature, enzyme and salts concentrations, the presence of sand etc. was studied upon the rate of precipitation and the morphology of the precipitate. The rate of precipitation increased with increasing temperature up to the optimum temperature of the enzyme activity. The experimental conditions identified through a series of batch type experiments were optimized for the consolidation of granular materials. Lab experiments done in loose sand packs have shown that consolidation may be achieved through bridges of calcium carbonate formed enzymatically. The consolidation efficiency was found to be strongly dependent on urease quality. Crude jack bean urease was more effective than refined one, due to impurities which promote calcitic rhombohedra to precipitate. Increasing the number of solution injections resulted in increased strength and reduced permeability, as expected. Resistance to uniaxial strength was found to be inversely proportional with temperature. The highest values were obtained for precipitates formed on sand grains at 25:C. The initial concentration of the supersaturated solutions were also found to affect the degree of consolidation, because of the different precipitation rates (higher at higher supersaturations) and of the amount of the material precipitated on the grains, which again was more, the higher the solution supersaturation with respect to calcium carbonate. Next, the heterogeneous nucleation and growth of calcite was investigated both in unstable and stable solutions at supersaturations sufficiently low to allow for the measurement of induction times preceding the onset of precipitation. In the unstable regions the induction times were inversely proportional and the rates of precipitation increased with the solution supersaturation. The high order dependence of the rates of precipitation on the solution supersaturation suggested a polynucleation mechanism. Fit of the induction time-supersaturation data according to this model yielded a value of 49 mJ/m2 for the surface energy of the calcite nucleus forming. In the stable domain of the supersaturations, seeded growth experiments showed a second order dependence on the rates of crystal growth of calcite seed crystals, while quartz seed crystals failed to induce nucleation. Raising supersaturation to reach the unstable domain showed interesting features: calcite seed crystals yielded crystal growth kinetics compatible with the polynucleation model, without any induction time contrary to the quartz seed crystals that triggered secondary nucleation. The kinetics data in the latter case were consistent with the polynuclear model and the surface energy for the newly forming embryo was calculated equal to 13 mJ/m2, confirming the fact that the process is dominantly heterogeneous. In the third part of this dissertation an attempt is presented to apply the idea of enzymatic precipitation of salts to the case of calcium phosphate formation. For this purpose, two kinds of phosphatases were tested for their PO4/3 release capacity from polyphosphates. Each type of the enzyme functioned at a different pH, so that a wide pH-range was covered (5.50-9.80). A seven-fold increase in the enzyme concentration resulted in the increase of the hydrolytic substrate decomposition percentage from 38% to 82% at pH 5.50. At pH 9.80, increasing the amount of alkaline phosphatase by a factor of five, the percentage of hydrolytic decomposition increased from 800o to 100%. The temperature dependence of the enzymes’ activity allowed for the determination of the maximum rate and the Michelis-Menten constant. At 25oC, Rmax and Kmwere calculated equal to 3.2x104 mol/h and 2.15x l0 mol/l for acid phosphatase, while the values for alkaline phosphatase were 5.9x10 mol/h and 4.26x10-3 mol/l, respectively. The activation energies were calculated to be 31 and 74 kJ/mol for acid and alkaline enzymes respectively. In terms of precipitation, the enzymic hydrolysis method is applicable for concentrations of the substrate and of the cation of the precipitating salt lower than 0.05 mol/l. For higher concentrations, insoluble complexes of Ca-substrate were formed and the precipitation of calcium phosphate was not favored. The presence of sand promoted both precipitation and hydrolysis when acid phosphatase was used, while with alkaline phosphatase the effect of the presence of sand was negligible. Consolidation experiments conducted in loose sand packs indicated that this method may be applicable only to stabilize sand with a few applications of the working solution, since the amount of the precipitate is small for the concentration levels suggested by the results of the present work. For strong consolidation, and for the composition of the solutions suggested in this work, a large number of injections is needed.

This thesis presents health care organizations as heterogenic and highly complex in nature with particular normative structures underpinning their formal rational structures. It seeks to explore the evolution of organization structure as applied to a medical corporation in Qatar and to examine the nature of organizational culture and multi professional cohesiveness. In doing so it assesses a range of models on organizational design and change. The three hospitals that compose the corporation are investigated through triangulated interpretative qualitative and quantitative methodologies and the application of the Competing Values Framework. The comprehensive approach of the investigation resulted in a series of conclusions on the evolution of hospital organizational structures, the link between life cycle and structure, forms of organizing health services, characertistics of professional structures, the nature and success of change management strategies, coordination mechanisms, organizational and professional cultures, and health service, organizational and team effectiveness assessment. Findings demonstrated that autonomous and sometimes conflicting professions worked in harmony and cohesiveness as a consequence of shared core values and the human relations focus of health organizations. In examining organizational design it showed that coordination mechanisms were preferred to integration mechanisms with the former playing an important role in conflict resolution and human relations. Finally, findings indicated that when organizational design has shortcomings, the organization substitutes through other mechanisms.

This study has a dual focus. Firstly it explores the relevance of 'masculinities' (as a problematic and contested term) to individual men, and in the process of examining their psychosocial health status it investigates how masculinities shaped their willingness to report and/or seek help for psychosocial health problems. Secondly, it highlights the ways in which poor material circumstances, associated with men's relatively low income levels, combined with masculinities to shape their perceptions and responses to material sources of stress. Thus, the study makes an original contribution to knowledge in the fields of both 'masculinities' and inequalities in men's health. In exploring these issues the study draws on insights from the men and masculinities literature, 'psychosocial' approaches to health inequality, especially those that have drawn on the concept of 'social stress', and also from 'realist' social theory. These insights inform the development of an holistic approach to social stress which underpins the subsequent analysis of qualitative data obtained during the course of thirty-four semi-structured interviews with men from Coventry in the West Midlands who were either in full-time but low-paid employment, or who had been unemployed for one year or more. The findings of the study suggest that masculinities do have relevance to an understanding of men's health, and that they combine with men's income levels and their work status to shape their willingness to admit and/or seek help for psychosocial health problems, whilst also shaping their experiences and responses to sources of stress in a range of different ways.

Bibliography: p. 102-104. / NASA Research Grant NGR-22-009-124. M.I.T. Project no. DSR 76265.