This dissertation uses Actor Network Theory (ANT) and Stark and Bainbridge's rational choice theory of religion to analyze an established but controversial branch of science and technology, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Of particular interest are the cultural, and sometimes religious, assumptions that its creators have built into it. The purpose of this analysis is not to discredit SETI, but instead to show how SETI, along with other avant-garde scientific projects, is founded, motivated, and propelled by many of the same types of values and visions for the future that motivate the founders of religious groups. I further argue that the utopian zeal found in SETI and similar movements is not aberrant, but instead common, and perhaps necessary, in many early-stage projects, whether technical or spiritual, which lack a clear near-term commercial or social benefit. / Ph. D.

政治參與的問題, 一直是民主理論中各家爭議不休的焦點; 而參與式民主理論的主張 , 無論在理論上或現實中, 亦有其參與上「質」與「量」的兩難困境。因此, 從參與 者的角度來探析此一問題, 應是合理的方式之一。何錶投票參與是參與式民主運作中 最重要的一環, 所以選民投票參與行為乃成為學者研究政治參與時所不可或缺要項。 本文研究目的即於應用理性抉擇論(Rational Choice Theory), 以探討臺灣地區選民 投票參與行為。一方面著重於選民理性投票模型的理論分析, 另一方面亦從事理論驗 證工作; 嘗試尋求具解釋力的變項, 以建構一較能解釋臺灣地區選民長期投票行為的 理性模型。 理性投票理論主要承襲Downs-Tullock(1957,1968)、Riker Ordeshook(1968) 和Fer- john-Fiorina(1974)等三個主要理論途徑而發展。其研究重點依分析層次可區分為: 探討個人投票或不投票之理性計算模型與探討投票率之理性行為模型。至今理論建構 已愈趨完整, 同時亦獲得充分經驗事實的支持, 對於選民投票行為具有很高的解釋力 。 應用此一分析傳統, 我們著重於探討投票率之理性行為模型。研究發現: 無論是在增 額區域立委或縣市長選舉方面, 均具有相當的解釋力; 同時隨著國內政治、社會、經 濟環境的發展變遷, 此一趨勢愈為明顯。其中尤以最近一次選舉(78 年),大體均能驗 證理性模型的假設。此一研究結果, 相信對國內選民投票行為之研究必有相當的助益 。

In today´s society large quantities of goods are shipped both domestic in Sweden as well as across borders. The increasing flow of goods require higher demands on the capacity of the infrastructure and at the same time think and act for a sustainable environment. The overall aim of the study is to highlight development areas for cargo freight by railway. The more specific goals of the study is to identify what enablers that is needed when to establish an intermodal terminal that will handle break-bulk cargo directly from railway, and what barriers that might be. To achieve the aim and goal a qualitative study was conducted with interviews as primal data. Studying the market prerequisites and conducting a competitive intelligence and a benchmark conducted the result. In the result, the interviews and the examined documents has ben compiled, these data has been the basis for the analysis and conclusion. Large parts of the collected data indicated that break bulk cargo handling in intermodal terminals is currently something that is not offered and it is not considered to be economically viable. However, the study also revealed that break bulk cargo handling is a desired service from the business sector as it is regarded as an environmentally friendly mode of transportation, something that the business sector appreciate. To cope with this kind of cargo handling and transportation more research is needed, better cooperation between the private- and the public sector as well as infrastructure changes. / Idag fraktas stora mängder gods både inom Sverige och över landsgränserna. Det ökande godsflödet ställer högre krav på infrastrukturens kapacitet samtidigt som det blir allt viktigare med transporter som är hållbara ur miljösynpunkt. Studiens övergripande syfte är att belysa utvecklingsmöjligheter av godstransport på järnväg. Mer specifika mål för studien är att identifiera vilka förutsättningar som bör finnas vid etablering av kombiterminal med styckegodshantering direkt från räls samt vilka barriärer det finns mot det. För att uppnå undersökningens syfte och mål genomfördes en kvalitativ studie med intervjuer som primärdata. Genom att studera marknadsförutsättningar, genomföra en omvärldsbevakning och en benchmark utformades resultatet. I resultatet har intervjuerna tillsammans med den granskade dokumentationen sammanställts, dessa data har sedan legat som grund till analysen och slutsatsen. Stora delar av insamlade data pekade mot att styckegodshantering på kombiterminal i dagens läge inte är något som erbjuds samt att det inte anses vara ekonomiskt hållbart att hantera styckegods på kombiterminal. Dock visade undersökningen att styckegodshantering på kombiterminal är en önskad tjänst från näringslivet då det anses vara ett miljövänligt transportsätt för gods, något som näringslivet värdesätter. För att klara av denna typ av hantering och transport krävs mer forskning, bättre samarbete mellan den privata och offentliga sektorn samt infrastrukturella förändringar.

Motivée par la conviction que la science économique et la sociologie doivent se rencontrer, notre recherche a deux objectifs. Elle questionne les filiations théoriques (ou migrations conceptuelles) entre la science économique et la sociologie d’une part ; et à analyser les caractéristiques de ces filiations théoriques d’autre part. Alors que s’accroit le dialogue entre la science économique et la sociologie depuis les années 1960, des filiations théoriques entre les deux disciplines sont-elles possibles ? Et quelles en sont les caractéristiques ? Notre recherche repose sur l’étude d’un cas, celui de la théorie de l’action. Nous abordons plus précisément différents objets de cette vaste théorie : la théorie du choix rationnel, le champ de l’économie des conventions et le concept d’encastrement. L’étude révèle que les filiations théoriques entre la science économique et la sociologie sont possibles, ne sont pas systématiques et peuvent être « imparfaites ». / Motivated by the conviction that economics and sociology must combine, our research has two goals. It questions theoretical filiations (or conceptual migrations) between economics and sociology on the one hand ; and analyzes the characteristics of these theoretical filiations on the other hand. Even though the dialogue between economics and sociology has been improving since the1960s, we question whether theoretical filiations between both disciplines are possible ; as well as the nature of the characteristics ? Our research is based on a case study, the theory of action. More specifically, we discuss different objects of this vast theory: the rational choice theory, the field of économie des conventions and the concept of embeddedness. The study reveals that theoretical filiations between economics and sociology are possible, unsystematic and can be considered as « imperfect ».

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Public-private partnerships in emergency management are widely encouraged in the academic literature, yet the government of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) tends to view collaboration from the private sector as an impediment to good policy. This occurs in spite of the island nation's geography that makes it susceptible to natural and human caused disasters. The purpose of this correlational study was to use public choice theory to explore, from the perspective of potential private sector collaborators, whether sufficient support exists in the private sector to support the USVI government in emergency management efforts. A modified version of the Mulhearn Sustainability and Community Collaboration Survey was distributed to business owners (n = 156). These data were used to determine whether a statistically significant relationship between USVI preparedness and collaborative governance exists. The results of the linear regression were significant, (p < .001) and suggest private sector company owners believe that collaborative governance can increase USVI preparedness. The recommendation is that the USVI government and the Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency involve the private sector in the planning, operations, and logistics of emergency management to prepare for any emergency such as natural disaster or terrorist action. The positive social change implication is based on the recommendation to the USVI government that the private sector be more involved in the planning, operations, and logistics of emergency management, thereby potentially improving emergency response in the event of a catastrophic event.

Following the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, politicians, media, and lobbyists rendered a number of conflicting and confusing interpretations of its merits and demerits. Such interpretations intensified the skepticism and concerns of small business enterprise (SBE) owners. The purpose of this study was to develop a representative, prioritized list of SBE owners' concerns or resistance factors. The goal was to create a useful guide for SBE owners who are seeking ways to reducing the adverse financial impact of the law. With social choice theory as the theoretical framework, 50 randomly selected SBE owners across 5 distinct industry groups from Richmond, Virginia, participated in an online, cross-sectional, pairwise comparison survey. The overall results of an analytic hierarchy process indicated that the top-ranked resistance factor of SBE owners was insurance premiums, followed by quality of care and the tax burden. However, these rankings were not uniform among industry groups. With a focus on these crucial concerns, SBE owners could benefit by seeking approaches to reduce the business costs of health care. The implications for positive social change include the potential for business organizations, researchers, and policymakers to channel SBE owners' voice for a socioeconomic growth by addressing their concerns in seeking improvements from the ACA.

For the last thirty years or so, there has been a search underway for a theory that canaccommodate our intuitions in regard to moral duties to future generations. The object ofthis search has proved surprisingly elusive. The classical moral theories in the literature allhave perplexing implications in this area. Classical Utilitarianism, for instance, implies thatit could be better to expand a population even if everyone in the resulting populationwould be much worse off than in the original. The main problem has been to find an adequate population theory, that is, a theoryabout the moral value of states of affairs where the number of people, the quality of theirlives, and their identities may vary. Since, arguably, any reasonable moral theory has totake these aspects of possible states of affairs into account when determining the normativestatus of actions, the study of population theory is of general import for moral theory. A number of theories have been proposed in the literature that purport to avoidcounter-intuitive implications such as the one mentioned above. The suggestions arediverse: introducing novel ways of aggregating welfare into a measure of value, revising thenotion of a, life worth living, questioning the way we can compare and measure welfare,counting people's welfare differently depending on the temporal location or the modalfeatures of their lives, and challenging the logic of axiological and normative concepts. Weinvestigate the concepts and assumptions involved in these theories as well as theirimplications for population theory. In our discussion, we propose a number of intuitively appealing and logically weakadequacy conditions for an acceptable population theory. Finally, we consider whether it ispossible to find a theory that satisfies all of these conditions. We prove that no such theory exists.

Tediousness, fear and boredom are all part of everyday’s life for a student. How can a teacher counteract these feelings of boredom and replace them with a feeling of pleasure of learning? Students have to be motivated and want to go to school every day. By comparing student’s experiences of motivation this essays purpose is to create a theory about factors for motivation in education. However, the concept of motivation is far from easy to understand. Understanding what a student is motivated by is no less complex, and in relation to everyday’s teaching the situation is hard to grasp. A theory in this area is useful as a model of how to analyze a student’s motivation. After using focus groups the result was categorized into five categories. Strain, interest, the teacher, social and the future. By analyzing the results and the five categories a theory was formulated in which students were grouped by two criteria’s: motivation and prerequisites. Prerequisites are internal factors for motivation, motivation meaning external factors. Group 1 consists of students with less than average prerequisites and low motivation. Students in group 2 have good prerequisites but low motivation. Group 3 has bad prerequisites but are motivated. Thus group 4 students are motivated and have good prerequisites. To create motivation in education, a teacher could use this theory to better understand how a student is motivated. Thus creating a better understanding for how to motivate that student. / Leda, rädsla och långtråkighet utgör stora delar av elevens vardag. Hur kan en lärare verka för att byta dessa känslor mot mer lust att lära? Motivationen och viljan att komma till skolan varje dag måste finnas. Genom att jämföra elevers erfarenhet av motivation är syftet med denna uppsats att skapa en modell om motivationsfaktorer för undervisningen. Begreppet motivation är så komplext att det är svårt att finna dess kärna. Vad är en elev motiverad till? Motivation i undervisningen är inte mindre komplext. En modell inom detta område kan alltså användas för att analysera en elevs motivation. Genom fokusgrupper kategoriserades resultatet i fem kategorier, press, intresse, läraren, socialt och framtiden. Ur en analys av resultatet och dessa fem kategorier formulerades en modell där eleverna grupperas i fyra grupper efter två skalor: motivation och förutsättningar. Förutsättningar är interna faktorer till motivation och motivation innebär externa faktorer. I grupp 1 befinner sig elever med dåliga förutsättningar och låg motivation. Grupp 2 är elever med bra förutsättningar och låg motivation. De i grupp 3 har dåliga förutsättningar men bra motivation. Grupp 4 har både bra förutsättningar och är motiverade. För att skapa motivation i undervisningen kan en lärare använda sig av modellen för att förstå hur en elev ska motiveras. Därmed kan en lärare bättre förstå hur en elev ska motiveras.

The aim of this thesis was to study elderly people’s experiences of and approach to their usage of home care services with tax deduction. The aim was also to describe how elderly people reason about their underlying motives of using home care service with tax deduction. The study is based on six qualitative interviews with people between the ages of 65 and 80, living in Nacka, Sweden. This thesis is a collaboration with Stiftelsen Stockholms läns Äldrecentrum/ Stockholm Gerontology Center and part of their follow up study concerning simplified administration for elderly people applying for home care services in Nacka. The theory of rational choice was used in the analysis of the results. The primary results showed that elderly people’s usage of home care services with tax deduction was limited though regular and consist mainly of basic domestic work. The overall experiences of using home care services with tax deduction were positive and described in terms of satisfaction and as a possibility of independence and influence regarding their needs of services and how they were executed. The results indicate that the usage of home care services with tax deduction is partly based on elderly people’s lack of confidence in publicly-financed elderly care. Due to the distrust in elderly care and the self-determing factors home care services with tax deduction generated, their choice of using home care services with tax deduction seemed more appealing than publicly-financed home care services.