<p>Over many years the housing industry has been criticised concerning its performance related to factors such as quality and cost. Together with the challenge of improving its capability in meeting individual customers’ needs, by means of effective production, this has resulted in a situation where companies look at other industries, such as manufacturing, in order to<i> industrialise</i> their products and processes. Swedish housing producers are today working towards finding more commonality in products and processes at the same time as the ability to deliver customized product and services is maintained or improved. In some cases this means an increase in central control of the design work carried out in project groups.</p><p>This thesis presents a study of the design process for housing at a Swedish property developer, JM AB. Interviews have been conducted with three main groups of actors (project leaders, architects and sellers) connected to ten housing developments. A survey has also been sent out to these individuals as well as to other important actors. The main objectives of these investigations were to find out major actors’ attitudes towards the increase in central control of the design work, in general terms as well as in relation to specific design objects (windows, floor plans, bathrooms and basic structure) for the housing projects.</p><p>The results show that the trend towards more industrialised processes by more structuring and standardising concerning design has had an effect on the design work carried out in project groups. There are positive as well as negative aspects, as well as similarities and differences in attitudes. These differences can be related to different roles as well as to geographical differences. Within this work a <i>triangle</i> has been developed for measuring and comparing different actors’ attitudes. The work further shows that adapting a more holistic view of the design process, by considering it as part of a firm’s product realisation process, could be a base for further developments</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Communication, Information and Library Studies." Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-102).

The central objective of this work is to present an analysis of the asymptotic conformal Killing vectors in asymptotically-flat space-times of general relativity. This problem has been examined by two different methods; in Chapter 5 the asymptotic expansion technique originated by Newman and Unti [31] leads to a solution for asymptotically-flat spacetimes which admit an asymptotically shear-free congruence of null geodesics, and in Chapter 6 the conformal rescaling technique of Penrose [54] is used both to support the findings of the previous chapter and to set out a procedure for solution in the general case. It is pointed out that Penrose's conformal technique is preferable to the use of asymptotic expansion methods, since it can be established in a rigorous manner without leading to the possible convergence difficulties associated with asymptotic expansions. Since the asymptotic conformal symmetry groups of asymptotically flat space-times Are generalisations of the conformal group of Minkowski space-time we devote Chapters 3 and 4 to a study of the flat space case so that the results of later chapters may receive an interpretation in terms of familiar concepts. These chapters fulfil a second, equally important, role in establishing local isomorphisms between the Minkowski-space conformal group, 90(2,4) and SU(2,2). The SO(2,4) representation has been used by Kastrup [61] to give a physical interpretation using space-time gauge transformations. This appears as part of the survey of interpretative work in Chapter 7. The SU(2,2) representation of the conformal group has assumed a theoretical prominence in recent years. through the work of Penrose [9-11] on twistors. In Chapter 4 we establish contact with twistor ideas by showing that points in Minkowski space-time correspond to certain complex skew-symmetric rank two tensors on the SU(2,2) carrier space. These objects are, in Penrose's terminology [91, simple skew-symmetric twistors of valence [J. A particularly interesting aspect of conformal objects in space-time is explored in Chapter 8, where we extend the work of Geroch [16] on multipole moments of the Laplace equation in 3-space to the consideration. of Q tý =0 in Minkowski space-time. This development hinges upon the fact that multipole moment fields are also conformal Killing tensors. In the final chapter some elementary applications of the results of Chapters 3 and 5 are made to cosmological models which have conformal flatness or asymptotic conformal flatness. In the first class here we have 'models of the Robertson-Walker type and in the second class we have the asymptotically-Friedmann universes considered by Hawking [73].

This thesis considers how the Black dancing body constitutes both Black history and dance history by reading the body in Pearl Primus' Hard time blues, The Negro speaks of rivers and Strange fruit as physical auto/biography, or what I shall herein refer to as auto/body/graphy. The Black dancing body, because it is a repository of the Black experience, actively engages in the act of self-naming, self-shaping, and self-recognition. As such, it may be considered an auto/body/graphy that is situated in Black history, an instrument through which histories of origin and migration, struggle against oppression and colonialization, and the forging of identities and self-definition are inscribed and communicated. This thesis examines Primus' early choreographies as a discourse through which to consider the impact of Black cultural consciousness and the emergence of a Black aesthetic and Black corpo-reality in dance and theatre on the development of American modern dance before mid-century, and upon later choreographers who followed Primus. / text

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Consumer researchers have long accepted that consumption can serve as a tool in the creation, maintenance, and expression of consumers' identities. And brands, in particular, may be important to the consumer self, even potentially serving as relationship partners. This dissertation explores how brands that are important to consumers may impact their identities at a cognitive level. Specifically, I apply Aron et al.'s (1991) "including others in the self" paradigm from interpersonal relationship research, which finds that people's cognitive representations of close others overlap the psychological self, to studying the impact of brands on the self. I provide evidence that consumers' mental representations of loved brands, which may be perceived as relationship partners, overlap the psychological self in memory. I refer to this as self-brand overlap. I also consider the relevance of disliked brands to the consumer self, providing evidence that consumers' mental representations of disliked brands are dissociated from the psychological self in memory. I refer to this as self-brand dissociation.In two studies I demonstrate and replicate the self-brand overlap and dissociation effects. And, study 2 further explores these constructs, providing evidence that self-brand overlap and dissociation are the cognitive representations of positive and negative, respectively, consumer-brand relationships. This dissertation also includes three further studies that aim to identify boundary conditions of these effects. However, no conclusive support is found for a role of any of the explored moderators. Specifically, studies 3 through 5 find the self-brand dissociation effect in every condition, in every study, suggesting that self-brand dissociation is impervious to the boundary conditions examined. Evidence for the self-brand overlap effect, which was demonstrated in both studies 1 and 2, however, is mixed in each of these 3 later studies. Potential reasons for this lack of concrete replication are offered.

This study aims to contribute to the understanding of ideology conveyed by lexical items and framing of texts. Since ideology is embedded in language the frames used in newspapers construct a narrow ideological perspective for the readers to interpret subjects and events through. On the basis of editorials from The Washington Post and The Washington Times that cover President Barack Obama, the study examines how the editorials differ in their framing of Obama and which discourses and keywords occur unusually frequently in each newspaper. Findings suggest that when it comes to framing, The Washington Post allows for a relatively balanced perspective on Obama as they both support and criticise him, while The Washington Times overwhelmingly condemns and attacks Obama. A keyword analysis points to unusually frequent discourses on race, conservatives and reforms in The Washington Post, and spending, unemployment and political institutions in The Washington Times. Because of their ideological differences the newspapers construct a reality where the subject, Obama, is presented in very different ways.

Gegenstand der vorliegenden Dissertation ist das Verhalten sogenannter Selbstüberschneidungslokalzeiten $\\|\\ell_t\\|_p^p$ einer zeitstetigen Irrfahrt $(S_r)_r$ auf dem $d$-dimensionalen Gitter $\\Z^d$. Dabei ist für $p>1$ die Funktion $\\ell_t$ definiert durch $$ \\ell_t(z):=\\int_{0}^{t}\\1_{\\{S_r=z\\}}\\,\\d r\\nonumber $$ und bezeichnet die Aufenthaltsdauer der Irrfahrt bis zum Zeitpunkt $t\\in(0,\\infty)$ im Punkt $z\\in\\Z^d$. Ziel ist es, ein Prinzip großer Abweichungen zu entwickeln, d.h. das Hauptaugenmerk liegt auf dem asymptotischen Verhalten der Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass die Selbstüberschneidungslokalzeiten von ihrem Erwartungswert in erheblichem Maße nach oben abweichen. Mit anderen Worten; es soll das asymptotische Verhalten von $$ \\log\\P(\\|\\ell_t\\|_p^p\\geq r^p_t) $$ genau bestimmt werden, wobei $r_t^p\\in(0,\\infty)$ schneller als der Erwartungswert $\\E[\\|\\ell_t\\|_p^p]$ gegen unendlich streben soll. Dieses Verhalten kann dabei durch $t$, $r_t$ und eine gewisse Variationsformel beschrieben werden. Es wird sich herausstellen, dass es zwei Fälle zu betrachten gilt, in denen sich das probabilistisch beste Verhalten stark unterscheidet; die genaue Position des Phasenübergangs hängt dabei von den Parametern $p$ und $d$ ab. Im Vorgriff auf die Resultate kann man festhalten, dass die nötigen Selbstüberschneidungen in kleinen Dimensionen (im sogenannten subkritischen Fall) über einen großen Bereich erfolgen, aufgrund dessen bei der mathematischen Modellierung eine Reskalierung erforderlich ist. In hohen Dimensionen (dem sogenannten superkritischen Fall) ist dies nicht nötig, da die erforderlichen Selbstüberschneidungen innerhalb eines begrenzten Intervalles erfolgen. Das Interesse an der Untersuchung entstand unter anderem aus der Verbindung zu Modellen der statistischen Mechanik (parabolisches Anderson Modell) und zur Variationsanalysis. In der Vergangenheit wurde eine Vielzahl an Methoden benutzt, um dieses Problem zu lösen. In der vorliegenden Dissertation soll die sogenannte Momentenmethode bestmöglich ausgereizt werden und es wird gezeigt, welche Ergebnisse damit möglich sind.

Dans le cadre des débats sur la transition énergétique, l'implémentation des Smart Grids est avancée comme une part de la solution pour répondre à la fois aux questions climatiques et aux enjeux énergétiques. Les modèles de prospective constituent des outils d'aide à la décision permettant d'orienter les trajectoires énergétiques afin de satisfaire aux futures demandes en tenant compte de contraintes environnementales et techniques. Ces modèles historiques, caractérisés principalement par l'adéquation de l'offre à la demande doivent désormais évoluer pour intégrer les développements futurs attendus du système électrique. Dans ce travail, nous avons implémenté dans une approche de long terme différentes fonctionnalités propres aux Smart Grids (gestion de la demande, stockage, énergies renouvelables). Cette approche nous permet d'évaluer les bénéfices liés à chacune d'entre elles séparément, ou bien conjointement au travers de bouquets de solutions, tenant ainsi compte des possibles interactions entre ces fonctionnalités. Nous avons également intégré un indicateur reflétant le niveau de fiabilité du système électrique dans notre modèle. Ce paramètre supplémentaire permet de contraindre les futurs systèmes électriques afin qu'ils garantissent un niveau de service en terme de fourniture électrique identique à celui des systèmes existants. Cette étude est illustrée par le cas de l'île de la Réunion, qui s'est donné pour objectif de produire d'ici 2030 son électricité à partir de sources uniquement renouvelables, et pour qui les fonctionnalités de Smart Grids pourraient constituer un levier intéressant.