Sammansättningen i svenska börsnoterade bolags ledningsgrupper består till stor del av medelålders män med svensk härkomst. Mångfalden i dagens Sverige återspeglas därmed inte i näringslivets topp, vilket kan leda till negativa konsekvenser för både företag och samhället i stort. Med hjälp av en välkänd teori inom den strategiska forskningen, the upper echelon theory, och tidigare forskning inom området ämnar vi förklara samband mellan risknivån i företag och ledningsgruppens sammansättning i form av ålder och kön. Vi har genomfört en kvantitativ studie där vi samlat in data om 1991 ledningsgrupper, vilka tillsammans omfattar nästan 14 000 observerade ledande befattningshavare. Den statistiska undersökningen har resulterat i att samband har anträffats mellan risken i företaget och ledningsgruppens sammansättning avseende både kön och ålder. Vi har dessutom funnit att branschen har en viss påverkan på vilka personer som ingår i ledningsgruppen.

This thesis examines the role of the legal profession in Upper Canada from 1791 to 1867. In particular it focuses on whether or not the legal profession became the elite that they were set up to be. It examines the reasons behind choosing the legal profession as the elite. Between the creation of Upper Canada and Confederation there were several political and economic changes and I examine how these changes impacted the legal profession and the role that they had to play in the legal profession. I argue that while the legal profession failed to become the aristocratic elite that the early Upper Canadian leaders hoped for, it did become distinctively Upper Canadian.

This thesis examines the role of the legal profession in Upper Canada from 1791 to 1867. In particular it focuses on whether or not the legal profession became the elite that they were set up to be. It examines the reasons behind choosing the legal profession as the elite. Between the creation of Upper Canada and Confederation there were several political and economic changes and I examine how these changes impacted the legal profession and the role that they had to play in the legal profession. I argue that while the legal profession failed to become the aristocratic elite that the early Upper Canadian leaders hoped for, it did become distinctively Upper Canadian.

International Living With a Star Workshop 2013, 2013/06/24-6/28, Irkutsk, Russia

The aim of this study was to understand injury mechanisms behind fractures of the upper extremities in car accidents. Volvo Car Corporation initiated this project based on the fact that no safety system today focuses on preventing injuries to the upper extremity. A literature study was undertaken focusing on the basic anatomy of the upper extremity, different fracture types and fracture mechanisms. Three subsets, from 1998 – January 2009, were selected from Volvo’s statistical accident database: 1) all occupants involved in an accident 2) all occupants with a MAIS2+ injury 3) all occupants with an upper extremity fracture. These subsets were used in a comparison, using frequency analyses. The comparison analysis showed that frontal impact is the dominating accident type for all three subsets. The comparison analysis also indicated that the risk for upper extremity fractures follows the pattern of MAIS2+ injury risk. An in-depth study using 92 selected cases, including 80 occupants, was also performed. All available information, such as medical records, questionnaires completed by the occupants and photographs from the accident scene was collected and analysed. The analysis of the in-depth study, together with knowledge retrieved from the literature study, resulted in six different mechanism groups that were used to categorise fractures. The groups were then analysed individually in regard to accident type and fractured segment of the upper extremity. Analysis of the mechanism groups showed that frontal impact is the dominating accident type in these subsets as well. It could also be seen that the fractures occurring in the in-depth study are quite evenly distributed along the upper extremities. Upper extremity injuries are relatively infrequent in car accidents but may result in long-term disability, including chronic deformity, pain, weakness and loss of motion. More attention is therefore necessary in order to develop a safer environment for car occupants.

In nineteenth-century Upper Canada (Ontario), professional work was a primary means by which men could improve their social status and class position. As increasing numbers of men sought entry into these learned occupations, current practitioners sought new ways of securing prominent positions in their chosen professions and asserting themselves as having expertise. This dissertation studies the activities and experiences of the five physicians who, as the first medical superintendents (head physicians) at the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, Toronto from 1840 to 1865, sought such enhanced professional status. Opened in January 1841 as a public welfare institution, the Toronto asylum was housed initially in a former jail; in 1850 it was relocated to a permanent building on Queen Street West. During the asylum’s first twenty-five years of operation physicians Drs. William Rees, Walter Telfer, George Hamilton Park, John Scott, and Joseph Workman successively held the position of medical superintendent at the institution. Given the often insecure status of physicians working in private practice, these doctors hoped that government employment at the asylum would bring greater stability and prestige by establishing them as experts in the treatment of insanity. Yet professional growth in Upper Canada during the Union period (1840-1867) occurred within the context of the colony’s rapidly changing socio-political culture and processes of state development, factors that contributed to the ability of these doctors to “professionalize” as medical superintendents. Rees, Telfer, Park, and Scott would never realize enhanced status largely due to the constraints of Upper Canada’s Georgian social culture in the 1840s and early 1850s. During the 1850s, however, demographic, political, and religious changes in the colony brought about a cultural transition, introducing social values that were more characteristically Victorian. For Joseph Workman, whose beliefs more reflected the new Victorian culture, this cultural shift initially involved him in professional conflicts brought about by the social tensions occurring as part of the transition. Nevertheless, by the 1860s, changes in government led to the development of new legislation and departmentalization of welfare and the public service that led him to gain recognition as a medical expert in a unique field.

The aim of this qualitative study was to attain an increased understanding as to how several upper-secondary school students perceived and experienced teachers using humour during classroom discourse. The study was based on the following questions: What does humour mean to the students? What are the forms of humour utilized by teachers? How do students perceive the use of humour with regards to learning processes? Are there recommendations and cautionary measures for teachers to consider when incorporating humour in teaching? Methodology used was a semi-structured interview of 13 questions. Participants consisted of six students aged 16 to 19 years. The length of the interviews varied between 20-35 minutes. Results of the interviews indicated that openness and understanding the unique sense of humour existing in each classroom, as well as self-confidence and a moderate use of humour, are necessary to effectively incorporate humorous text and anecdotes in lessons to facilitate learning processes. However, the study revealed that openness is pivotal in the construction and maintenance of positive learning climates. Students did not experience humour during ESL lessons, indicating a possible lack of contextual knowledge in language teaching practices.

Firms’ top decision makers cannot possibly know what decisions to make. Rather, decision makers must interpret their situations and make the best possible decision based upon their interpretation of their situations. In this dissertation, I examine decision-makers’ goal orientations as influencing how they interpret their situations and then respond through making decisions in terms of their firms’ entrepreneurial orientations. I also examine whether these decisions influence firm performance. I surveyed top firm decision makers in the Association of Former Students’ database at Texas A and M University. The hypotheses were tested using a structural equation modeling. Using a sample of 273 firms, I find that decision-makers’ goal orientations shape their firm’s entrepreneurial orientations, which in turn influence firm growth, relative performance, and expected future performance. Possessing a learning goal orientation was found to be positively related to innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk taking. A performance prove goal orientation was positively related to innovativeness, whereas a performance avoid goal orientation was negatively related to innovativeness and risk taking. Only a proactive firm posture was found to be positively related to firm performance. The results for this dissertation provide compelling support for upper echelons theory. Decision-makers’ finer-grained personal attributes are found to shape firm-level outcomes. More specifically, decision-makers’ goal orientations are found to shape the firm’s entrepreneurial orientation and, to some extent, performance. Interestingly, coarse-grained personal attributes captured in demographic proxies and used as control variables in the analyses did not provide consistent support for upper echelons theory. The results suggest that scholars need to take a finer-grained perspective of upper echelons theory. A substantial amount of research has established the link between individuals’ goal orientations and how they interpret and respond to their situations. The research here has extended this relationship to the top decision-making context in firms where individuals face strong situational forces caused by uncertainty, complexity, and dynamism. I hope that this research encourages other scholars to (1) examine more complex models of how decision-makers’ personal attributes influence their entrepreneurial decisions in terms of both recognizing and exploiting opportunities, and (2) examine other finer-grained attributes of top decision makers within a finer-grained framework of the decision-making process.

This study applies the Washington State Ergonomics Tool to waste industry jobs in Texas. Exposure data were collected by on-site observation of fourteen different multi-task jobs in a major national solid waste management company employing more than 26,000 employees. This company has nationwide operations, and these jobs represent the majority of workers involved in the collection and processing of solid waste. The WSET uses observational checklist methodology to evaluate generic risk factors in the following six major categories: awkward posture, highly repetitive motion, high hand force, repeated impact, lifting, and hand-arm vibration. The assessment tool incorporates these risk factors and combinations of risk factors into checklists for identifying three levels of potential exposure: safe, -caution zone" and -hazard zone" jobs. The tool was developed for employers to use in determining whether a job was likely to increase the risk of workplace musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) to their employees. OSHA 200 logs were used as the main source of morbidity data. If there was one recorded WMSD, the job was classified as -positive. "If there was no recorded WMSD, the job was classified as -negative. "-Safe"jobs were those predicted not to expose workers to increased risk of WMSDs. Those that possessed one or more -caution zone"criteria but still fell below the -hazard zone" threshold required the employer to provide -awareness education" for employees and to further analyze the job for the presence of -hazard zone" risk factors. If hazard zone risk factors were not present, no further action was required. Jobs that upon further analysis possessed one or more of the -hazard zone"criteria were labeled -hazardous" jobs. If the further analysis shows the presence of risk factors established in the hazard zone criteria (Appendix B), the employer would be required to take corrective action to reduce exposures to below the hazardous level. Of the three jobs predicted to be -safe"by -caution zone" criteria, two did not have injuries and one did. Of the eleven jobs predicted by -caution zone"criteria to increase the risk of WMSDs, six resulted in injuries and five did not. Of the four jobs predicted by -hazard zone"criteria to be -problem"jobs, two jobs did result in injury and two did not. This study found that the WSET -caution zone"criteria were more effective at predicting which jobs were likely to increase the risk of WMSDs than was the -hazard zone"checklist. The caution zone had high sensitivity and low specificity. The hazard zone criteria reflect a low sensitivity and a low specificity. Further analysis revealed the WSET was helpful in predicting back injuries associated with lifting but not effective at predicting jobs with the potential for upper extremity injuries.

This thesis is intended to provide several new bounding techniques for channel codes over quasi-static fading channels (QSFC). This type of channel has drawn more and more attention recently with the demanding need for higher capacity and more reliable wireless communication systems. Although there have been some published results on analyzing the performance of channel codes over QSFCs, most of them produced quite loose performance upper bounds. In this thesis, the general Gallager bounding approach which provides convergent upper bounds of coded systems over QSFCs is addressed first. It is shown that previous Gallager bounds employing trivial low SNR bounds tended to be quite loose. Then improved low instantaneous SNR bounds are derived for two classes of convolutional codes including turbo codes. Consequently, they are combined with the classical Union-Chernoff bound to produce new performance upper bounds for simple convolutional and turbo codes over single-input single-output (SISO) QSFCs. The new bound provides a much improved alternative to characterizing the performance of channel codes over QSFCs over the existing ones. Next the new bounding approach is extended to cases of serially concatenated space-time block codes, which show equivalence with SISO QSFCs. Tighter performance bounds are derived for this coding scheme for two specific cases: first a convolutional code, and later a turbo code. Finally, the more challenging cases of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) QSFCs are investigated. Several performance upper bounds are derived for the bit error probability of different cases of space-time trellis codes (STTC) over QSFCs using a new and tight low SNR bound. Also included in this work is an algorithm for computing the unusual information eigenvalue spectrum of STTCs.