This study investigates which objectives in the corporate balanced scorecard (CBSC) that corporate managers in large unlisted companies focus on within corporate control. It also investigates what the explanatory factors are for the corporate managers’ focus. The CBSC was proposed to alleviate the historical financial focus of managers in control activities. This study makes a contribution by reviewing corporate managers' focus on financial and non-financial CBSC-objectives in corporate control. A multiple case study was conducted, consisting of a mutually owned and a governmentally owned company, where data was collected from semi-structured interviews, internal documents and observations. Results indicate that corporate managers from the mutually owned company primarily focused on financial and customer objectives. Corporate managers in the governmentally owned firm primarily focused on financial objectives, complemented with quality objectives. Although having a mixed influence, the perceived complexity of measures, relationship between objectives and capital market pressure promoted corporate managers’ focus. The conclusion of this study is that financial objectives are prioritised in corporate control because of the influence of the three explanatory factors.

This thesis contextualizes the work of artist Margarita Cabrera within Chicano, postcolonial, and feminist theories, and specifically places her work within discourses surrounding the United States-Mexico border. I address the evolution of Cabrera’s sculptural work from her initial Desert Plants to the collaborative, community-based workshop Space in Between, which prompted her incorporation of Florezca, a for-profit social enterprise. I discuss how Cabrera’s collaborative art-making process and founding of a corporation are strategic methods to challenge and attempt to change oppressive political systems in the United States that disenfranchise undocumented Latino immigrants. / text

The Arctic is an important component of the Earth’s climate system, and it is a region dynamically coupled to climate phenomena at lower latitudes, through both atmospheric and oceanic paths. The coupling has significant effects on the hydroclimate variability in the Arctic, including effects on sea ice and Arctic precipitation. In this dissertation, we explore the coupling of the lower latitudes and the Arctic hydroclimate through atmospheric mechanisms with dynamical and thermodynamical components, with a focus on the following examples of variability: i) the decadal variability of boreal winter Arctic precipitation, ii) the variability of the strength of the stratospheric polar vortex in boreal winter, and iii) the initial melt of Arctic sea ice in late boreal spring. The goal of the research is to understand what drives the Arctic hydroclimate variability in each of these examples through improved knowledge of the mechanisms linking them to the tropics and Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes. In the first part of the analysis, we explore the mechanisms responsible for the decadal variability of boreal winter Arctic precipitation. We find that the decadal variability of cool-season Arctic precipitation is at least partly connected to decadal modulation of tropical central Pacific sea surface temperatures related to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The modulation can be described as the oscillation between periods favoring central and eastern Pacific warming events [CPW and EPW, respectively], which are two common types of ENSO variability. By analyzing a collection of CPW and EPW events in reanalysis data, we establish the following connecting mechanism. First, the increase of central Pacific SSTs drive a Rossby wave train that destructively interferes with the zonal wavenumber 1 component of the background extratropical planetary wave in the subpolar region. Next, as a result of this interference, the magnitude of the vertical Rossby wave propagation from the troposphere to the stratosphere decreases and the stratospheric polar vortex strengthens. Finally, the strengthening of the vortex translates into a tendency towards a positive Arctic Oscillation (AO) in the troposphere and a poleward shift of the Northern Hemisphere midlatitude storm tracks, increasing moisture transport from lower latitudes and increasing total Arctic precipitation. In a further investigation of a crucial component of the above mechanism, the initial response of the stratospheric polar vortex to the influence of CPW and EPW is investigated. A 20-member ensemble run of an idealized model experiment in the NCAR Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) is conducted with prescribed CPW and EPW pattern SST anomalies. Both CPW and EPW events weaken the polar vortex in the ensemble mean. The weakening is mainly tied to changes in the eddy-driven mean meridional circulation, with some contribution from eddy momentum flux convergence. There is a significant spread between ensemble members with identical CPW and EPW forcing, where a few of the ensemble members exhibit a weak strengthening response. The initial conditions of the extratropical atmosphere and subsequent internal variability after the introduction of the CPW and EPW forcing help drive the spread in response between individual members. In the last part of the analysis, using MERRA reanalysis data, the means by which atmospheric eddies affect the trend and variability of the initial melt of Arctic sea ice are explored. We focus specifically on the effects of lower troposphere (i.e. 1000-500 mb average) meridional heat transport by atmospheric eddies, a dynamical component of the atmospheric eddy mechanism, and eddy-generated surface downwelling shortwave and longwave radiation anomalies, a thermodynamical component. Although in a climatological sense, atmospheric eddies in all major frequency bands transport heat poleward into the Arctic, we find that the lower-troposphere eddy meridional heat transport does not contribute to the trend of an earlier initial melt date. However, eddy heat transport still plays an important role in the initialization of individual episodes of initial melt with large areal coverage. In the investigation of two specific episodes, the meridional heat transport term that represents the interaction between the eddy wind and mean temperature fields (i.e. the product of the meridional eddy wind and the mean temperature fields) is most associated with the initial melt in both episodes. Additionally, melt in one of the episodes is also associated with surface downwelling longwave and shortwave radiation anomalies, a result of eddy-generated cloud cover anomalies. Therefore, in individual melt events, the combination of direct eddy meridional heat transport and surface longwave and eddy-driven shortwave radiation anomalies may significantly contribute to the initial melt of Arctic sea ice. This combination may be especially important in episodes where significant initial melt occurs over a large area and over a period of a few days.

Disulfide bond formation is an essential process for the folding and biological activity of most extracellular proteins; however, it may become the limiting step when the production of these proteins is attempted in heterologous hosts such as Escherichia coli. The rearrangement of incorrect disulfide bonds between cysteines that do not normally interact in the native structure of a protein is carried out by disulfide isomerase enzymes. The disulfide isomerase present in the bacterial secretory compartment (the periplasmic space) is the homodimeric enzyme DsbC. The objective of this dissertation was to understand the key features of how DsbC catalyzes disulfide bond isomerization. Chimeric disulfide isomerases comprising of protein domains that share a similar function, or are homologous to domains of DsbC were constructed in an effort to understand the effect of the domain orientation in the dimeric protein, and the need for a substrate binding region in disulfide isomerases. We successfully created a series of fusion enzymes, FkpA-DsbAs, which catalyze in vivo disulfide isomerization with comparable efficiency to DsbC. These enzymes comprise of the peptide binding region of the periplasmic chaperone FkpA, which is functionally and structurally similar to the binding domain of DsbC but share no amino acid homology with it, fused to the bacterial oxidase DsbA. In addition, these chimeric enzymes were shown to assist in the initial formation of disulfide bonds, a function that is normally exhibited only by DsbA. Directed evolution of the FkpA-DsbA proteins conferred improved resistance to CuCl₂, a phenotype dependent on disulfide bond isomerization and highlighted the importance of an optimal catalytic site. The bacterial disulfide isomerase DsbC is a homodimeric V-shaped enzyme that consists of a dimerization domain, two α-helical linkers and two opposing catalytic domains. The functional significance of the existence of two catalytic domains of DsbC is not well understood yet. The fact that identical subunits naturally dimerize to generate DsbC has so far limited the study of the individual catalytic sites in the homodimer. In chapter 3 we discuss the engineering, in vivo function, and biochemical characterization chapter 3 we discuss the engineering, in vivo function, and biochemical characterization of DsbC variants covalently linked via (Gly3Ser) flexible linkers. We have either inactivated one of the catalytic sites (CGYC), or entirely removed one of the catalytic domains while maintaining the putative binding area intact. Our results support the hypotheses that dual catalytic domains in DsbC are not necessary for disulfide bond isomerization, but are important in terms of increasing the effective concentration of catalytic equivalents, and that the availability of a substrate binding region is a determining feature in isomerization. Finally, we have carried out initial studies to map the residues and sequence motifs that are recognized in substrate proteins that interact with DsbC. Although the main putative binding region of DsbC has been localized within the limits of the hydrophobic cleft that emerges from the interaction of the N-terminal domains of this enzyme, and, a few native substrates have already been identified, no information on the features of substrate proteins that are recognized by the enzyme has been reported. To address this problem, we have screened two different, 15 amino-acid random peptide libraries for binding to DsbC. We have successfully isolated several peptides with high affinity for the enzyme. Possible consensus binding motifs were identified and their significance in substrate recognition will be examined in future studies. / text

Den här rapporten beskriver mitt utvecklingsarbete med elevers loggboksskrivande inom två kurser på Restaurang, bar och vin utbildning på Studium Restaurang & Bageri i Göteborg.  Idén till utvecklingsarbetet fick jag när jag märkte att elever upplevde att de fick för dålig feedback och inte riktigt förstod vad de skulle göra för att lyckas uppnå betygskriterierna inom två kurser. Syftet med mitt utvecklingsarbete är ta fram en loggbok och att undersöka om loggboksskrivande kan skapa en ökad kommunikation mellan lärare och lärare och elever. Första steget i utvecklingsarbetet blev att skapa och implementera loggböcker i två kurser. Resultatet blev att eleverna upplevde loggboken mycket positivt. Eleverna tyckte att loggböckerna blev ett naturligt verktyg för dem att se sin kunskapsutveckling och föra en kontinuerlig kommunikation med mig och min kollega som var deras undervisande lärare. Slutsatsen är att arbetet med loggboken ger en bättre överblick över elevens utveckling. Loggboken visar elevens delaktighet samt fungerar som en viktig kommunikationskanal mellan lärare och elev. Genom arbetet med loggboken dokumenterar eleverna sin egen kunskapsutveckling och kan via lärarens återkoppling se hur de ska kunna ta nästa steg. Slutsatsen är att loggboken ger eleverna chansen att öka sin påverkan på studierna och målen samt att lärarens återkoppling har stor inverkan på eleverna. Genom arbetet med loggboken har vi lärare också fått ett bra verktyg för att kunna utveckla vår undervisning. / This report demonstrates my research on how students may improve their progress in course with the help of journal writing. I have based my research on two courses within the Restaurant, bar and wine program at Studium Hospitality & Bakery in Gothenburg. I came up with the idea for the research when I noticed how the students experienced little to no feedback and didn´t really understand what they should do to excel in their courses. The purpose of the research is to develop a practical and easy-to-work journal and to find out if journal writing can improve the communication between teachers and teacher students. To achieve this I implemented a journal in two courses. The feedback from the students was positive. They thought the journals quickly became a natural tool to be able to see their own progress and also, they were able to have an ongoing interaction between teacher and student. In conclusion the journal has given a better overview of the progress a student makes during the course. The journal works as a tool to oversee attendance and it is also an important communication channel between student and teacher. Through the work with the journal the students document their own progression within the course, hence will be able to detect the next step of their development. The journal gives the students the opportunity to discuss which elements of the course have been critical to reach increased progression.  It has also given the teachers an important tool to develop their teaching.

Today many children have limited experiences with the outdoors or nature. In most suburbs where people originate from many countries and have various ways of understanding nature is it perhaps in preschool that several children for the first time experience nature. This survey is qualitative and the main research methods are participant observations and interviews. The theories used in this study are mainly based on the thoughts of Dewey and Vygotskij as well as on ideas from outdoor education and different ways or ideas of understanding nature. The purpose with this study is to make clear in what ways nature is used by the teachers in preschool activities and how this work is done in preschools in multicultural suburbs. Questions at issue are: What way of understanding nature are the teachers trying to convey to the children? How is nature used in the ordinary outdoor activities by the preschool teachers? What are the teachers experiences of success and problems in this work? The conclusion is that nature is used in preschool activities in many ways. The most prominent ones are different types of learning for example subjects as mathematics and language or simply the experience of enjoying nature or the development of the childrens motor function and health. In these outdoor activities also the meeting between cultures, where Swedish as well as preschool traditions become clear, can be observed.

Aim: Culture exists in every organization, whether you actively work with it or not. Old cultures often carry traditions and are hard to change. The purpose of this thesis is to describe Gävle Galvan from an organizational point of view and also to investigate the culture from a gender point of view. Method: The thesis is written with a qualitative and narrative approach. I have taken part in three person’s stories through interviews and thereby created picture of their everyday work on Gävle Galvan. It’s hard to describe a company’s culture and I have, with help from the stories and my own observations, tried to give an as balanced picture as possible. The interviews and my observations, together with organizational theoretical concepts, create my story of the company. Conclusions: This study is confirmed by Schein’s theory; it’s difficult to change old behaviours and traditions, what Schein calls assumptions. Gävle Galvan characterizes by its history and how it’s always been. What once was created has been well kept and led to an assumption. The culture has a couple of culture carrier who have been in the organization for many decades. These persons are often respected because they have a long experience of the profession and they will not accept new co-workers that don’t share their norms and values. The forced habits make it hard for Gävle Galvan to adjust their activities in terms of equality between the sexes. Traditions contribute to generalize the female sex and the profit of having both women and men in an organization doesn’t come thru. / Syfte: Kultur är något som finns i organisationer, oavsett om ett aktivt kulturarbete sker eller inte. Äldre kulturer bär ofta med sig traditioner och har en djupt rotad kultur som är svår att förändra. Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva Gävle Galvan ur organisationsteoretiska begrepp samt se på organisationen och dess kultur ur ett genusperspektiv. Metod: Uppsatsen är skriven ur en kvalitativ, berättande ansats. Jag har tagit del av tre personers berättelser genom att ställa intervjufrågor och därmed fått en bild av deras vardag på Gävle Galvan. Det är svårt att beskriva ett företags kultur och jag har med hjälp av dessa tre personer och mina egna iakttagelser på plats försökt få en nyanserad bild av Gävle Galvan. Intervjuberättelserna och iakttagelser blir med hjälp organisationsteoretiska begrepp min berättelse om företaget. Slutsats: Studien bekräftas av Scheins teori, det är svårt att ändra djupt rotade beteende och traditioner alltså det Schein kallar antaganden. Gävle Galvan präglas av dess historia och hur det alltid har varit. Det som en gång skapats har vårdats och sjunkit in till förgivet-tagna-antagande. Kulturen har några kulturbärare som arbetat i organisationen i många decennier, dessa personer är ofta respekterade eftersom de har lång erfarenhet av yrket och stöter bort människor som inte delar samma normer och värderingar. Dessa vana mönster gör de även svårt för Gävle Galvan att anpassa verksamheten ur ett jämställt perspektiv. Traditionerna bidrar till en generalisering av kvinnor och vinsterna med en jämställd arbetsplats lyfts inte fram.

This study rises up an untouched area of ​​research where the relationship between newly arrived parents and teachers is examined from a structural perspective. Previous research has looked only at the interaction between parents and teacher; this study is thus a theoretical contribution to the research. The aim of the study is met by examining the perceptions newly arrived parents have of their meeting with the Swedish school, the relationship with their children’s teacher, cooperation, collaboration between home and school, as well as their own influence in their children's learning. Similarly examines the perceptions teachers have about newly arrived parents, cooperation, collaboration between them and the parents and parental influence on children's learning. Method: To meet the objective, a qualitative survey has been made. Ten qualitative interviews with ten newly arrived parents and two interviews with teachers, including a primary school teacher and a preschool teacher. Results and Conclusions: The results showed that parents were generally pleased with their relationship to the teachers, but that they do not really see their own role in their child's learning, except helping with homework and going to formal meetings. The teachers perceived the relationship as generally good, but did not see newly arrived parents being involved or active parents. The teachers expected this, as these parents have language deficiency and too little knowledge of school organization. The teachers were the ones who had the formal power and they decided what information arrivals parents were provided with. Collaboration between teachers and newly arrived parents proved to be inadequate and it affected both the teachers and parents attitudes towards each other.

Globalizacija, kintantys darbo rinkos poreikiai daro įtaką vyresnio amžiaus ( nuo 45 m.) moterų nedarbui, nes praradusios kvalifikaciją ir neturėdamos atitinkamo išsilavinimo dėl įvairių priežasčių: didesnio pasiaukojimo šeimai, visuomeninės nuomonės apie moters vaidmenį, mažesnių fizinių sugebėjimų, sveikatos problemų, materialinių sunkumų, joms sunkiau integruotis į šiuolaikinę darbo rinką. Analizuojant bedarbystės situaciją Lietuvoje, pastebima, kad darbo rinkoje moterų diskriminacija įgyja gan ciniškas formas. Atvira moterų diskriminacija pastebima, kai ieškančios darbo moterys neatitinka darbo skelbimuose plačiai taikomų amžiaus – lyties kriterijų. Moterims siūlomų užsiėmimų ratas ribojamas mažesnės kvalifikacijos ir prestižo darbais (sekretorė, auklė ir pan.), o pradedančioms verslininkėms dirbtinai sudaromos kliūtys gauti lengvatinius kreditus, licenzijas ir pan. Tyrimo metu paaiškėjo, kad dauguma moterų yra įgijusios specialybę, tačiau darbo pagal ją nesusirado ir mano, kad tai yra pagrindinė įsidarbinimo kliūtis. Vyresnio amžiaus (nuo 45 iki 55m) moterims yra svarbus mokymosi ir tobulinimosi motyvas, jos siekia mokytis naujos specialybės, atgaivinti prarastą kvalifikaciją ir dirbti, nes nenori būti bedarbėmis. Tyrimas parodė, žemą vyresnio amžiaus (nuo 55m.) bedarbių moterų mokymosi motyvaciją. Šio amžiaus moterys jaučiasi per senos mokytis, o tai neskatina jų tolesnio mokymosi ir sunkina sėkmingą integraciją į darbo rinką. Vyresnio... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Globalization and developing changes of labour market are related with increase of unemployment of older women (above 45 years old). That happens because of several reasons like lack of correspondent education, lost qualification, self-denial for the sake of family, public prejudices about women’s social status, physical health peculiarities, material reasons, etc. The investigation revealed that although most women are educated enough and specialize in some area, the main problem was to acquire a job according to their specialization. Refresher courses for women are quite expensive and thus hardly available for those who need it most, and there are no free refresher courses in Lithuania. Older women (age range from 45 to 55 years) notice motive of professional self improvement or gaining a new profession because they don’t want to be unemployed. Older women also more often then younger ones register in the jobcenter to receive allowance and to get possibility to join free refresher courses for registered unemployed members. Older (above 55) unemployed women are less motivated to develop their skills or study new things and that also aggravate their situation in the labour market. One third part of the unemployed respondents (above 45 years old) of the recent investigation noticed that they work illegally in the households, children care, sewing, knitting, etc. The lack of education, low qualification, low motivation for self-improvement and older age were found as... [to full text]

Therapist-client sexual involvement has been shown to have damaging effects on clients, therapists and the mental health professions. As sexual attraction necessarily precedes sexual involvement, the incidence, experience and management of sexual attraction to clients was investigated in a sample of 485 South African clinical psychologists (return rate 23%). Evaluation of training and attitudes to sexual involvement with current and former clients and to other forms of touch in therapy were also investigated. Survey data from 111 psychologists reveal that 63.1% (79.1% of men and 52.9% of women) have been sexually attracted to clients, at least on occasion, while 97.1% have never become sexually involved with a client. Most (61.4%) do not feel anxious, guilty or uncomfortable about the attraction, although more women (50%) than men (26.5%) do. More than half (58.2%) felt that their sexual attraction had benefited the therapy process, while 76.1% believed that it had never been harmful. Men reported significantly more frequent benefit than women. In managing their sexual attraction, 60.8% sought support from supervisors, peers and their own therapists, while 31.9% worked through the feelings on their own. Ethical practice and welfare of clients were more important reasons for refraining from acting on sexual attraction than fear of legal or professional censure. Ethics codes consulted reflect the lack of nationally endorsed guidelines. Almost half (45.7%) had received no education about therapists' sexual attraction to clients, while only 10.6% had received adequate education. Education about the ethics of therapist-client sexual involvement was rated as significantly more adequate than training about therapists' sexual attraction to clients. Most (74.2%) said that their training was useful in helping them to make informed decisions about sexual involvement with clients. The majority (92.5%) felt that education on these issues should be a required part of training for clinical psychologists. Sexual involvement with former clients was considered less unethical than with current clients (65.2% vs 98.9%). 55.9% believe that there are circumstances in which sexual involvement with former clients might not be unethical, particularly depending on time since termination. Appropriate time between termination of therapy and sexual involvement ranged from immediately (1.8%) to never (44.1 %). Certain forms of touch are considered ethical, although attitudes varied depending on context and form. A handshake was rated to be always ethical by 66.3%, while 83.2% believe kissing is never ethical. There was lack of consensus about hugging and holding hands. Implications of findings and directions for future research are discussed. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.