<p>This study focuses on ecofeminist ethical theory. A first aim is to clarify ecofeminist views on five central issues in the field of environmental ethics. These issues are: (1) Views of nature, (2) social constructivism and nature, (3) values of nature, (4) ethical contextualism, and (5) ethical pluralism. A second aim is to compare ecofeminist standpoints with certain standpoints within nonfeminist environmental ethical theory. A third aim is to critically discuss some of the main standpoints in ecofeminism. The analysis focuses on the works of Karen Warren, Sallie McFague, Chris Cuomo, and Carolyn Merchant. Other important sources are the environmental philosophers and ethicists J. Baird Callicott, Paul Taylor, Irene Klaver, Bryan G. Norton, Christopher Stone, Eugene Hargrove, Holmes Rolston III, Per Ariansen, Don E. Marietta, and Bruno Latour.</p><p>The result of this study is that there are no main differences between ecofeminism and nonfeminist environmental ethics regarding the main standpoints on the five issues. Rather, the significant differences are found within these main standpoints. In addition, one important characteristic of ecofeminist ethics is its "double nature," that is, the fact that it is rooted in feminism and environmentalism. The double nature of ecofeminism results in a foundation out of which ecofeminism as an environmental philosophy has a unique potential to handle some of the theoretical tensions that environmental ethics creates.</p><p>From the perspective that environmental problems consist of complex clusters of natureculture- discourse and that environmental ethical theory ought to be action guiding, it is argued that ecofeminist ethical theory has an advantage compared to nonfeminist environmental ethics. This standpoint is explained by the fact that ecofeminism holds a variety of views of nature, kinds of social constructivism and contextualism, and conceptions of values and of the self, and from the presumption that this variety reflects the reality of environmental problems. However, in order for ecofeminist ethical theory to fulfill its promise as an acceptable environmental ethical theory, its theoretical standpoints ought to be explicated and further clarified.</p>

This study focuses on ecofeminist ethical theory. A first aim is to clarify ecofeminist views on five central issues in the field of environmental ethics. These issues are: (1) Views of nature, (2) social constructivism and nature, (3) values of nature, (4) ethical contextualism, and (5) ethical pluralism. A second aim is to compare ecofeminist standpoints with certain standpoints within nonfeminist environmental ethical theory. A third aim is to critically discuss some of the main standpoints in ecofeminism. The analysis focuses on the works of Karen Warren, Sallie McFague, Chris Cuomo, and Carolyn Merchant. Other important sources are the environmental philosophers and ethicists J. Baird Callicott, Paul Taylor, Irene Klaver, Bryan G. Norton, Christopher Stone, Eugene Hargrove, Holmes Rolston III, Per Ariansen, Don E. Marietta, and Bruno Latour. The result of this study is that there are no main differences between ecofeminism and nonfeminist environmental ethics regarding the main standpoints on the five issues. Rather, the significant differences are found within these main standpoints. In addition, one important characteristic of ecofeminist ethics is its "double nature," that is, the fact that it is rooted in feminism and environmentalism. The double nature of ecofeminism results in a foundation out of which ecofeminism as an environmental philosophy has a unique potential to handle some of the theoretical tensions that environmental ethics creates. From the perspective that environmental problems consist of complex clusters of natureculture- discourse and that environmental ethical theory ought to be action guiding, it is argued that ecofeminist ethical theory has an advantage compared to nonfeminist environmental ethics. This standpoint is explained by the fact that ecofeminism holds a variety of views of nature, kinds of social constructivism and contextualism, and conceptions of values and of the self, and from the presumption that this variety reflects the reality of environmental problems. However, in order for ecofeminist ethical theory to fulfill its promise as an acceptable environmental ethical theory, its theoretical standpoints ought to be explicated and further clarified.

Hur skapar man en framtid för en patient som befinner sig i en mycket utsatt situation, medvetslös och uppkopplad till maskiner? Detta är något som iscensätts när anestesiläkare talar med varandra om patienter vid rapporteringen till och från jouren på en intensivvårdsavdelning. Avhandlingen visar hur anestesiläkarna arbetar med att skapa bilder av patienten genom numeriska värden, social information och sin egen kunskap om och erfarenhet av hur andra patienter utvecklats. I överrapporteringssamtalen framkommer anestesiläkarnas arbete med patienters vård och framtid. Dessa samtal analyseras i avhandlingen som rutinmässiga, arbetsinriktade samtal som iscensätter relationer till patienten, till vården, till anestiläkarnas kollegor och till den egna professionella identiteten. Samtalen karaktäriseras av en professionell riktadhet, där patienten handskas med som en representation, ett kunskapsobjekt och ett behandlingsprojekt. Avhandlingen bygger på fältarbete bland anestesiläkare vid ett större sjukhus samt på analys av sjutton bandinspelade överrapporteringssamtal. Studien är tvärvetenskaplig, med inspiration från medicinsk sociologi, kommunikationsstudier och teknik och vetenskapsstudier. I studiens första empiriska del analyseras samtalens inramning som en kommunikativ verksamhet, dess karaktär och relationer till anestesiläkarnas övriga arbete. I den andra delen fokuseras hur läkarna talar om patienterna och vården. Centrala begrepp för att förstå läkarnas samtal kring de svårt sjuka patienternas diagnoser och framtida utveckling är ’mobiliseringsvärde’ och’ livsapparat’. / How does one create a future for severely ill patients, who are in a vulnerable condition, unconscious and connected to machines? This is a situation that is staged when anaesthetists talk to each other about patients when one work shift ends and a new one goes on duty in an intensive care unit. The thesis shows how the anaesthetists create images of the patient by means of numerical values, social information and their own knowledge and experience of other patients and their development. In the study, the talk is analysed as characterized by a professional orientation, where the patient is dealt with as a representation, an object of knowledge, and a project for care. The study is based on field work among anaesthetists in a major hospital and on an analysis of seventeen hand-over talks. It is interdisciplinary, with inspiration from medical sociology, communication studies, and social studies of technology. The first empirical part of the thesis discusses the framing of the talk as a communicative activity, its character and its relationship to the anaesthetists’ work outside of the meeting room. The second empirical part focuses on how anaesthetists construct the patient and their tasks in the talk. Excerpts from different talks are used to analyse how the doctors interpret different aspects of the patients’ past situation and care, present medical status, and possible future developments. Key concepts used are ‘mobilising worth’ and ‘life device’.

The first part of this dissertation presents an innovative method for the assessment of generation system reliability. In this method, genetic algorithm (GA) is used as a search tool to truncate the probability state space and to track the most probable failure states. GA stores system states, in which there is generation deficiency to supply system maximum load, in a state array. The given load pattern is then convoluted with the state array to obtain adequacy indices. In the second part of the dissertation, a GA based method for state sampling of composite generation-transmission power systems is introduced. Binary encoded GA is used as a state sampling tool for the composite power system network states. A linearized optimization load flow model is used for evaluation of sampled states. The developed approach has been extended to evaluate adequacy indices of composite power systems while considering chronological load at buses. Hourly load is represented by cluster load vectors using the k-means clustering technique. Two different approaches have been developed which are GA parallel sampling and GA sampling for maximum cluster load vector with series state revaluation. The developed GA based method is used for the assessment of annual frequency and duration indices of composite system. The conditional probability based method is used to calculate the contribution of sampled failure states to system failure frequency using different component transition rates. The developed GA based method is also used for evaluating reliability worth indices of composite power systems. The developed GA approach has been generalized to recognize multi-state components such as generation units with derated states. It also considers common mode failure for transmission lines. Finally, a new method for composite system state evaluation using real numbers encoded GA is developed. The objective of GA is to minimize load curtailment for each sampled state. Minimization is based on the dc load flow model. System constraints are represented by fuzzy membership functions. The GA fitness function is a combination of these membership values. The proposed method has the advantage of allowing sophisticated load curtailment strategies, which lead to more realistic load point indices.

This dissertation aims to develop an ethical system that can properly frame such questions as the morality of large-scale efforts to transform inanimate parts of nature, for example, proposals to terraform Mars. Such an ethics diverges from traditional approaches to ethics because it expands the class of entities regarded as morally considerable to include inanimate entities. I approach the task by building on the environmental ethical theory of Paul W. Taylor, as developed in his 1986 book Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics. I discuss various criticisms of Taylor and propose two extensions to his theory: an expansion of the scope of moral considerability to include all concrete material objects and the introduction of the concept of variable moral significance (the notion that all entities have inherent worth but some have more than others). Using Taylor’s modified and extended theory as a foundation, I develop something I call universal ethics. This is an ethical framework whose key elements are a fundamental ethical attitude of respect for the world and a principle of minimal harm. Universal ethics regards all concrete material entities, whether living or not, and whether natural or artefactual, as inherently valuable, and therefore as entitled to the respect of moral agents. I offer a defence of this ethical framework and discuss a number of practical applications, including criticism of proposals for the terraforming of Mars. I conclude that terraforming Mars or any other celestial body at this point in our history would be morally wrong. I also suggest that universal ethics provides an ethical foundation for efforts to protect Antarctica, and that it has implications for our relations to other inanimate parts of our world, including artefacts.

This dissertation aims to develop an ethical system that can properly frame such questions as the morality of large-scale efforts to transform inanimate parts of nature, for example, proposals to terraform Mars. Such an ethics diverges from traditional approaches to ethics because it expands the class of entities regarded as morally considerable to include inanimate entities. I approach the task by building on the environmental ethical theory of Paul W. Taylor, as developed in his 1986 book Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics. I discuss various criticisms of Taylor and propose two extensions to his theory: an expansion of the scope of moral considerability to include all concrete material objects and the introduction of the concept of variable moral significance (the notion that all entities have inherent worth but some have more than others). Using Taylor’s modified and extended theory as a foundation, I develop something I call universal ethics. This is an ethical framework whose key elements are a fundamental ethical attitude of respect for the world and a principle of minimal harm. Universal ethics regards all concrete material entities, whether living or not, and whether natural or artefactual, as inherently valuable, and therefore as entitled to the respect of moral agents. I offer a defence of this ethical framework and discuss a number of practical applications, including criticism of proposals for the terraforming of Mars. I conclude that terraforming Mars or any other celestial body at this point in our history would be morally wrong. I also suggest that universal ethics provides an ethical foundation for efforts to protect Antarctica, and that it has implications for our relations to other inanimate parts of our world, including artefacts.

This dissertation aims to develop an ethical system that can properly frame such questions as the morality of large-scale efforts to transform inanimate parts of nature, for example, proposals to terraform Mars. Such an ethics diverges from traditional approaches to ethics because it expands the class of entities regarded as morally considerable to include inanimate entities. I approach the task by building on the environmental ethical theory of Paul W. Taylor, as developed in his 1986 book Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics. I discuss various criticisms of Taylor and propose two extensions to his theory: an expansion of the scope of moral considerability to include all concrete material objects and the introduction of the concept of variable moral significance (the notion that all entities have inherent worth but some have more than others). Using Taylor’s modified and extended theory as a foundation, I develop something I call universal ethics. This is an ethical framework whose key elements are a fundamental ethical attitude of respect for the world and a principle of minimal harm. Universal ethics regards all concrete material entities, whether living or not, and whether natural or artefactual, as inherently valuable, and therefore as entitled to the respect of moral agents. I offer a defence of this ethical framework and discuss a number of practical applications, including criticism of proposals for the terraforming of Mars. I conclude that terraforming Mars or any other celestial body at this point in our history would be morally wrong. I also suggest that universal ethics provides an ethical foundation for efforts to protect Antarctica, and that it has implications for our relations to other inanimate parts of our world, including artefacts.

This dissertation aims to develop an ethical system that can properly frame such questions as the morality of large-scale efforts to transform inanimate parts of nature, for example, proposals to terraform Mars. Such an ethics diverges from traditional approaches to ethics because it expands the class of entities regarded as morally considerable to include inanimate entities. I approach the task by building on the environmental ethical theory of Paul W. Taylor, as developed in his 1986 book Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics. I discuss various criticisms of Taylor and propose two extensions to his theory: an expansion of the scope of moral considerability to include all concrete material objects and the introduction of the concept of variable moral significance (the notion that all entities have inherent worth but some have more than others). Using Taylor’s modified and extended theory as a foundation, I develop something I call universal ethics. This is an ethical framework whose key elements are a fundamental ethical attitude of respect for the world and a principle of minimal harm. Universal ethics regards all concrete material entities, whether living or not, and whether natural or artefactual, as inherently valuable, and therefore as entitled to the respect of moral agents. I offer a defence of this ethical framework and discuss a number of practical applications, including criticism of proposals for the terraforming of Mars. I conclude that terraforming Mars or any other celestial body at this point in our history would be morally wrong. I also suggest that universal ethics provides an ethical foundation for efforts to protect Antarctica, and that it has implications for our relations to other inanimate parts of our world, including artefacts.

This research looks at the best practices applied by forensic investigators in conducting lifestyle audits on white collar crime suspects. The researcher explored, firstly, how a lifestyle audit relates to white collar crime investigations; secondly, the best practices in performing lifestyle audits on white collar crime suspects, and lastly, the various sources of information available to forensic investigators when conducting a lifestyle audit of a white collar crime suspect. As lifestyle audits will serve as an investigative tool in future forensic investigations into white collar crime, this study’s aim was to understand and create an awareness of the current best practices applied by forensic investigators within private sector forensic investigation practices while conducting lifestyle audits during white collar crime investigations. It also makes available research data regarding the concept of lifestyle audits in white collar crime investigations, the implementation of these audits, the benefits, and the best practices of these audits. The general purpose of this study was to provide practical recommendations on the best practices for lifestyle audits for forensic investigators within private sector. / Criminology and Security Science / M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

Cette thèse porte sur la Conception Centrée Valeur (CCV) proposé par Gilbert Cockton dans le but d'aller au-delà de l'utilisabilité dans les systèmes interactifs. L'auteur propose un canevas pour la mise en oeuvre de la CCV. Cependant, les opérationnalisations restent partielles et sont réalisées par lui-même, d'où un manque de recul de la communauté vis-à-vis de la méthode. La thèse relate la conception centrée valeur de Cocoon, un système d'information mobile et sensible au contexte. Elle apporte des contributions à la fois sur les plans conceptuel et méthodologique. D'un point de vue conceptuel, elle introduit la taxonomie PIPE (Personnelle, Impersonnelle, Pérenne, Éphémère) pour la caractérisation de l'information. En outre, elle montre que les systèmes existants ne couvrent pas PIPE : ils sont surtout focalisés sur les informations impersonnelles. Alors, la thèse propose le concept d'arbre de vie et Cocoon. D'un point de vue méthodologique, la thèse apporte une compréhension meilleure de la notion de valeur. En outre, elle fournit un retour d'expérience sur la CCV accompagné de remarques et recommandations pour des mises en oeuvres futures plus performantes. Enfin, elle propose un canevas pour la construction des cartes de valeur et une stratégie pour l'estimation de la valeur. / The thesis deals with Worth Centered Design (WCD) introduced by Gilbert Cockton. The author also introduced a framework aimed to support the WCD operationalization. However, this framework has been operationalized only partially until now and by Gilbert Cockton himself. The thesis relates our WCD experience with Cocoon, a mobile and context-aware information system. The thesis contributions are both conceptual and methodological. From a conceptual point of view, we introduce the PIPE (Personal, Impersonal, Perennial, Ephemeral) taxonomy for information characterization and show that existing systems only partially covers the PIPE information space: they focus on impersonal information. This notice motivated us to propose the life tree concept and Cocoon. From a methodological point of view, we offer a feedback to the community on an interesting concept method as well as recommendations for more efficient operationalizations. In addition, we introduce a framework for worth maps construction and a strategy for worth assessment.