This thesis investigates how Pakeha-Māori have been represented in New Zealand non-fiction writing during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The chronological and textual boundaries range from Arthur Thomson's seminal history The Story of New Zealand (1859) to James Belich's Making Peoples (1996). It examines the discursive inventions and reinventions of Pakeha-Māori from the stereotypical images of the Victorian era to modern times when the contact zone has become a subject of critical investigation and a sign of changing intellectual dynamics in New Zealand and elsewhere. This thesis is about the history of attitudes to culture-crossers in New Zealand, the use of the term 'Pakeha-Māori', and the images that underlie the thinking of Britons and Pakeha about them. It explores the motives and backgrounds of specific authors and the ways in which they frame New Zealand history. It elucidates the ambiguous and contradictory perspectives of Pakeha-Māori in the literature and analyses its impact on changing public perceptions about them. The study critiques the literature with emphasis on theoretically informed research, historical analysis, and literary insights. Discussion is confined to published texts, with the aim of exploring the multiplicity of Pakeha-Māori images and the processes that gave rise to them. This study is essentially an investigation into how and why historians and other scholars try to draw boundaries between cultures in order to create a satisfactory metanarrative or myth of the 'settlement' of New Zealand and thus to forge a sense of New Zealandness. The cultural and racial categories of 'Māori' and 'Pakeha' are very unstable, however, and a consideration of the 'in-between' or 'culture-crossing' category of 'Pakeha-Māori' can reveal the way in which 'Māori' and 'Pakeha' and a sense of New Zealand and New Zealanders have been constructed. More particularly, consideration of representations of those culture-crossers or race-crossers called Pakeha-Māori can reveal the hopes and fears of Pakeha writers regarding Pakeha, Māori and New Zealand and how Pakeha-Māori have frequently been a barometer or litmus test of public perceptions of relations between Māori and Pakeha in different historical periods.

A video sequence often contains a number of objects. For each object, the motion of its projection on the video frames is affected by its movement in 3-D space, as well as the movement of the camera. Video object segmentation refers to the task of delineating and distinguishing different objects that exist in a series of video frames. Segmentation of moving objects from a two-dimensional video is difficult due to the lack of depth information at the boundaries between different objects. As the motion incoherency of a region is intrinsically linked to the presence of such boundaries and vice versa, a failure to recognise a discontinuity in the motion field, or the use of an incorrect motion, often leads directly to errors in the segmentation result. In addition, many defects in a segmentation mask are also located in the vicinity of moving object boundaries, due to the unreliability of motion estimation in these regions. The approach to segmentation in this work comprises of three stages. In the first part, a phase-based method is devised for detection of moving object boundaries. This detection scheme is based on the characteristics of a phase-matched difference image, and is shown to be sensitive to even small disruptions to a coherent motion field. In the second part, a spatio-temporal approach for object segmentation is introduced, which involves a spatial segmentation in the detected boundary region, followed by a motion-based region-merging operation using three temporally adjacent video frames. In the third stage, a multiple-frame approach for stabilisation of object masks is introduced to alleviate the defects which may have existed earlier in a local segmentation, and to improve upon the temporal consistency of object boundaries in the segmentation masks along a sequence. The feasibility of the proposed work is demonstrated at each stage through examples carried out on a number of real video sequences. In the presence of another object motion, the phase-based boundary detection method is shown to be much more sensitive than direct measures such as sum-of-squared error on a motion-compensated difference image. The three-frame segmentation scheme also compares favourably with a recently proposed method initiated from a non-selective spatial segmentation. In addition, improvements in the quality of the object masks after the stabilisation stage are also observed both quantitatively and visually. The final segmentation result is then used in an experimental object-based video compression framework, which also shows improvements in efficiency over a contemporary video coding method.

<p>This study presents the extent, history and process of forest decline in Awassa watershed, south central Ethiopia. By combining different data sources such as satellite images, social surveys and historical documents, forest decline is described quantitatively and qualitatively and the main causes behind this process are identified. Forest decline in the study area is interpreted as the result of a combination of socio-political changes, economic activities, population growth, cultural patterns and agricultural developments while local conflicts over resources also play an important role. The findings of this study reveal forest decline to be a continuous process associated with spatial fragmentation and location specific losses. The recent increase in production of the cash crop khat has made a significant impact on the forest through several mechanisms: it relocates the agricultural/forest frontier; it causes intrusion and permanent settlement within forests; and fragments remaining forest. The analysis of human-spatial boundaries indicates unsystematic management of the natural forests by several administrative units. As a result, multiple claims have been made on the forests simultaneously as weak control and accountability conditions have negatively affected forest management. The main conclusions are as follows: Forest decline in the study area has a long history, spanning at least one century. The causes are identifiable as both temporally spaced individual events as well as chains of events. These interact with each other at different levels and scales as well as with the geographical properties of the study area. Land users’ rationale in weighing the advantages between keeping and replacing the forest is affected by economic gain, market conditions and transport facilities. Multiple claims to the forest land and weak accountability contribute to inefficient management, which accelerates forest decline.</p>

<p>The aim of this thesis is to shed light upon the construction of identity within the Swedish- Canadian immigrant group during the first half of the 20th century. The most important sources of ethnic and nationalistic influences this study scrutinizes are the homeland Sweden, Swedish-America, Scandinavian-Canada and the Canadian host society. It also examines the interaction with other social identities, such as gender and religion. Theoretically, this dissertation takes its point of departure in Fredrik Barth’s assumptions on cultural boundaries and ethnic grouping, which emphasizes the meeting and confrontation with other groups as a trigger in the development of a new ethnic identity. The study is carried out on three partly interacting levels: the individual, the organizational and the official/ rhetorical level.</p><p>On the individual level, the first generation Swedes in Canada was probably as Swedish as they could be concerning identity, culture and social networks. But as it turned out, the shattered Swedish immigration, the vast and often hardly passable Canadian landscape, together with indirect help from the Canadian government, would prevent an extensive establishment of ethnic organizations. The surplus of single Swedish-Canadian men also affected the transference of Swedishness negatively in the change of generations.</p><p>The intense dialogue with Swedish America, mostly conducted through the Augustana Synod and the Vasa Order, contributed to a new sense of Swedishness. Both these Swedish- American organizations had “Diaspora ambitions” and they relatively soon established a certain cooperation with the pan-Swedish movement in Sweden. Women played an important social, economical as well practical role in both secular and religious organizational life. Many Swedish-Canadians congregations and organizations would have had no future, if not for the women’s commitment.</p><p>Swedish rhetoric on the official level was carried out by men, to men, in a male language and imaginary. In this context the term Swede thus became synonymous with Swedish man. Both outspoken desires from the Swedish homeland and its actual internal development were considered and reformulated in Swedish-Canadian rhetoric. When the nationalistic discourse changed in Sweden, the Swedish-Canadian rhetoric changed in the same direction. Swedes in Canada also responded to ethnic competition, especially from Norwegians, by trying to define how the two related groups differed. Of certain importance was the signals given from the host society. With a general suspicion of foreign elements together with a demand for assimilation, the Canadian government seems to have hastened the integration process of Swedish-Canadians.</p>

This thesis brings fresh light on the types of problems that contemporary democracies might face when interacting with private interests. More specifically, the study examines the separation between the state and private interests, based on the assumption that this separation is a precondition for maintaining democracy and legitimate governance. It is thereby a contribution towards understanding the social forces that allow private interests to penetrate the public realm, as well as the forces that protect the state from such penetration. Under which circumstances do private interests access state apparatus in ways that contradicts its universalistic principles? How does the state consider challenges against its legitimacy and how are such threats dealt with? These questions are answered by means of two case studies. The first concerns the interaction between a number of state authorities that receive sponsoring from business enterprises. The second concerns interaction - partially afflicted by corruption - between the state monopoly for selling alcoholic beverages (‘Systembolaget’) in Sweden and its private suppliers. Applying theories on organizational boundaries, exchange, trust, networks as well as legitimacy to these cases, the study demonstrates how state reforms, inspired by the logic of markets, has introduced new ways for private interest to access state affairs. In the case of ‘Systembolaget’, this is particularly evident. The possibility of access, the study argues, is a consequence of reshaping the internal boundaries of the state, broadening informal relations as well as extended scope of action for state employees. This replaced social differentiation as a mechanism of separation by the personal integrity of state employees. Interestingly, this finding should be considered in relation to how the state has attempted to sharpen its organizational boundaries through a strengthening of regulation and the businesslike relations of exchange.

The aim of this thesis is to shed light upon the construction of identity within the Swedish- Canadian immigrant group during the first half of the 20th century. The most important sources of ethnic and nationalistic influences this study scrutinizes are the homeland Sweden, Swedish-America, Scandinavian-Canada and the Canadian host society. It also examines the interaction with other social identities, such as gender and religion. Theoretically, this dissertation takes its point of departure in Fredrik Barth’s assumptions on cultural boundaries and ethnic grouping, which emphasizes the meeting and confrontation with other groups as a trigger in the development of a new ethnic identity. The study is carried out on three partly interacting levels: the individual, the organizational and the official/ rhetorical level. On the individual level, the first generation Swedes in Canada was probably as Swedish as they could be concerning identity, culture and social networks. But as it turned out, the shattered Swedish immigration, the vast and often hardly passable Canadian landscape, together with indirect help from the Canadian government, would prevent an extensive establishment of ethnic organizations. The surplus of single Swedish-Canadian men also affected the transference of Swedishness negatively in the change of generations. The intense dialogue with Swedish America, mostly conducted through the Augustana Synod and the Vasa Order, contributed to a new sense of Swedishness. Both these Swedish- American organizations had “Diaspora ambitions” and they relatively soon established a certain cooperation with the pan-Swedish movement in Sweden. Women played an important social, economical as well practical role in both secular and religious organizational life. Many Swedish-Canadians congregations and organizations would have had no future, if not for the women’s commitment. Swedish rhetoric on the official level was carried out by men, to men, in a male language and imaginary. In this context the term Swede thus became synonymous with Swedish man. Both outspoken desires from the Swedish homeland and its actual internal development were considered and reformulated in Swedish-Canadian rhetoric. When the nationalistic discourse changed in Sweden, the Swedish-Canadian rhetoric changed in the same direction. Swedes in Canada also responded to ethnic competition, especially from Norwegians, by trying to define how the two related groups differed. Of certain importance was the signals given from the host society. With a general suspicion of foreign elements together with a demand for assimilation, the Canadian government seems to have hastened the integration process of Swedish-Canadians.

This study presents the extent, history and process of forest decline in Awassa watershed, south central Ethiopia. By combining different data sources such as satellite images, social surveys and historical documents, forest decline is described quantitatively and qualitatively and the main causes behind this process are identified. Forest decline in the study area is interpreted as the result of a combination of socio-political changes, economic activities, population growth, cultural patterns and agricultural developments while local conflicts over resources also play an important role. The findings of this study reveal forest decline to be a continuous process associated with spatial fragmentation and location specific losses. The recent increase in production of the cash crop khat has made a significant impact on the forest through several mechanisms: it relocates the agricultural/forest frontier; it causes intrusion and permanent settlement within forests; and fragments remaining forest. The analysis of human-spatial boundaries indicates unsystematic management of the natural forests by several administrative units. As a result, multiple claims have been made on the forests simultaneously as weak control and accountability conditions have negatively affected forest management. The main conclusions are as follows: Forest decline in the study area has a long history, spanning at least one century. The causes are identifiable as both temporally spaced individual events as well as chains of events. These interact with each other at different levels and scales as well as with the geographical properties of the study area. Land users’ rationale in weighing the advantages between keeping and replacing the forest is affected by economic gain, market conditions and transport facilities. Multiple claims to the forest land and weak accountability contribute to inefficient management, which accelerates forest decline.

Grain boundary processes play a major role in controlling different rate processes in yttria stabilized tetragonal zirconia. The present study concentrated on rate processes in tetragonal zirconia, which were significantly influenced by the grain boundary processes. In this present study, nanocrystalline zirconia with grain size as low as 66 nm and density as high as 98.5% was processed using a two steps sintering-sinterforging process in the temperature range of 1473K to 1373K. Significant suppression of grain growth was noted in the second step of the two step process. It was observed that two step sintering-sinterforging process can reduce the processing time by an order of magnitude compared to the two step sintering process. A high grain size dependency of 3.3 indicated grain boundary controlled process dominating this technique. The dense nanocrystalline zirconia was used for microstructural and deformation characterization. An influence of electric field on grain growth behaviour was studied by annealing the specimens at 1573K for 10 hours under an applied field of 4 V/cm to 80 V/cm. It was noticed that grain growth was significantly retarded under a very weak field and the magnitude of retardation dependent on the applied voltage, an extensive grain growth was observed on the other occasion when the applied voltage crossed the threshold value of 3.5V. It was proposed that electrical boundary resistance provides minima in the grain boundary energy during annealing and that retards the grain growth. This technique presented a huge potential application in ceramic processing involving rate process. Again the grain boundary process was reported to control this phenomenon. Low temperature creep properties of nanocrystalline zirconia were investigated in great detail in the present study. Grain boundary sliding was noted as the mode of deformation at 1423 K. Study on the specimens with wide range of grain sizes (65 nm to ~0.4 µm) suggested that the deformation mechanism of the nanograin is similar to that of the submicron grain zirconia. A study on the segregation of yttrium ions to the grain boundaries showed that the segregation behaviour of nanograin and submicron grain 3YTZ was similar, which again indicated towards the possibility of nanocrystalline tetragonal zirconia to be superplastic as the scaling law was applicable from submicron to nanocrystalline 3YTZ. Grain boundary sliding is the mode of deformation of 3YTZ at high temperatures. This study aimed at understanding the influence of grain boundary sliding on rate processes at the boundary namely grain boundary diffusion. Grain boundary diffusivity of the deformed specimens was measured using secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The study revealed that the sliding process is much slower compared to the atomic jumps causing grain boundary diffusion, hence no significant influence of the grain boundary sliding on grain boundary diffusion was observed. This present study demonstrated new techniques which have a huge potential application in processing ceramics at low temperatures. This study also developed an understanding of the grain boundary processes which involved in low temperature rate processes of nanocrystalline zirconia.

We investigate a certain epidemics model, with and without noise. Some parameter analysis is performed together with computer simulations. The model was presented in Iacus (2008).

Sammanfattning Stressrelaterad psykisk ohälsa såsom utmattningssyndrom, är en komplex problematik som varit mycket omdebatterad. Åtskilligt är publicerat i ämnet, men bara ett fåtal studier finns där personer med utmattningssyndrom själva fått möjligheten att beskriva orsakssambanden. Olika förklaringsmodeller och perspektiv beskrivs i litteraturen, men den rådande uppfattningen om varför människor drabbas utgår ofta från ett arbetsrelaterat perspektiv. Vi ville utforska om den rådande föreställning i ämnet stämmer överens med den uppfattning människor som drabbats av utmattningssyndrom har om orsakerna till symtomen. Vår ansats var även att undersöka om det kan finnas fler eller andra orsakssamband till utmattningsprocessen.   Vårt syfte med studien är; dels undersöka hur individer med utmattningssyndrom upplever vilka orsaker som är av betydelse för utmattningsprocessen, dels försöka beskriva och analysera dessa utsagor i ett vidare perspektiv.   Till studien valdes en kvalitativ metod och data samlades in med hjälp av intervjuer utifrån specifika forskarfrågor. Sju respondenter med utmattningssyndrom och närbesläktade stressrelaterade diagnoser deltog.   Resultatet visar att utlösande faktorer kopplade till bland annat arbetet är en orsak i utmatt-ningsprocessen, Studiens resultat visar också att bakomliggande faktorer är om möjligt ännu viktigare och som presenteras i Bohlin-Hogen-Henner modellen. Bakomliggande orsaker menar vi kan vara påfrestande och belastande livshändelser i uppväxten, vilka kan bidra till oförmåga att tillgodose egna behov och en prestationsbaserad självkänsla. Genomgående mönster har visat sig vara problematik med gränssättningen, det vill säga, dysfunktionell gränssättning som är en konsekvens av de olika bakomliggande faktorerna och har en avgörande betydelse för utmattningsprocessen. / Abstract Stress related psychological health-problems such as burn-out syndrome are complex issues which have been much debated. Much have been published on this topic but only a handful of studies have been conducted where individuals diagnosed with burn-out syndrome have been given the opportunity to describe the cause-effect of their condition. Different explanations and perspectives are described in the literature concerning this topic but the current view as to why people are afflicted by burn-out syndrome is based on a work-related perspective. We wanted to explore if the current view on the topic is in accordance with the diagnosed individuals view on the causes of their symptoms. Our intention was also to investigate into the possibility that there could be more or other causality behind the burn-out process.     The purpose of this study is twofold. First, to investigate how individuals with burn-out syndrome rate different causes in terms of importance to their process of burning out. Second, to try to describe and analyze these statements in a wider context.   For this study, we chose to use a qualitative methodology. Data were collected from interviews where adapted research questions were asked. Seven respondents diagnosed with burn-out syndrome or other stress related disorders participated.   The results show that work-related factors often are the triggers for the process of burning out, but hidden factors, such as conditions in the childhood and traumatic life events which can contribute to performance-based self-esteem, are even more significant. Overall patterns for burn-out syndrome show an inability to create personal boundaries, “dysfunctional personal boundaries”. This dysfunction is, in our opinion, the consequence of the hidden factors and in itself plays a crucial role in the burn-out process.