The public perception of ionising radiation focuses on its exploitation for energy production and medicine (diagnostics, therapy). In contrast, natural sources of ionising radiation are rarely considered, which contribute to more than half of the total radiation exposure. With regard to biological consequences, stochastic radiation effects (e. g. mortality of radiation-induced cancer, genetic effects), where the probability increases with dose, and deterministic radiation effects (pathological changes, e. g. changes of gonads, embryo and fetus) for which severity increases with dose, must be distinguished. Ionizing radiation is frequently linked to various risks (cancer, genetic damage, acute radiation syndrome). Usually, these risks are over-estimated. / Bei der öffentlichen Auseinandersetzung mit ionisierender Strahlung steht deren Nutzung im Rahmen der Energieerzeugung und der Medizin (Diagnostik, Strahlentherapie) im Vordergrund. Selten wird bedacht, dass ionisierende Strahlung auch natürlich vorkommt und damit mehr als die Hälfte der Gesamt-Strahlenbelastung bedingt. Die biologische Wirkung ionisierender Strahlung wird eingeteilt in stochastische Effekte, bei denen die Wahrscheinlichkeit eines Effektes mit der Dosis zunimmt (z. B. Tod durch strahleninduzierten Krebs, genetische Effekte), sowie deterministische Effekte (pathologische Veränderungen, z. B. an Fortpflanzungsorganen oder der Leibesfrucht), bei denen der Schweregrad dosisabhängig ist. Ionisierende Strahlung wird häufig mit verschiedenen Risiken (Krebs, Erbschäden, Strahlenkrankheit) in Verbindung gebracht, wobei diese in der Regel überschätzt werden.

Exclusionary discipline policies (Casella, 2003; Christle, Jolivette & Nelson, 2005; Tuzzolo & Hewitt, 2007), academic failure and school dropout are some of the most salient factors in the school to prison pipeline (Christle, Jolivette & Nelson, 2005). While previous research has explored the variability in existing exclusionary discipline policies and identified numerous factors associated with expulsion or criminal justice outcomes among youth, there has been little effort to bring these individual and school level factors together into a single predictive model that is informed by existing criminological theories. In this context, the proposed study will use multiple waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to consider how school discipline policies, demographics, and competing criminological explanations affect the risk of expulsion and then future contact with the criminal justice system. Findings reveal that school-level factors such as severe disciplinary policies, school size, and school type are weak predictors of expulsion and adult arrest. Conversely, measures of social bonding, low self-control, learning, and strain theories show promise in predicting expulsion and arrest outcomes. A history of school disciplinary actions and self-reported delinquency present themselves as the strongest predictors of expulsion and subsequent arrest. Theoretical and policy implications are considered.

Superstitious thoughts or behaviours have been demonstrated to occur frequently and persistently among students and athletes. One major limitation in the superstition in sports literature is that researchers attempt to measure only negative superstitious beliefs; however, to date, little is known about types of superstitions, how superstitions are developed and maintained, their psychological functions and malfunctions, or their behavioural consequences. Study 1 demonstrates the widespread prevalence of superstitions within the present population of undergraduate student athletes in British and Ghanaian universities, and explores several specific superstitions that appear to be particularly common. There were significant main effects of gender and nationality on both positive and negative superstitious beliefs. British student athletes tended to endorse both types of superstition to a greater extent than Ghanaian student athletes, whereas Ghanaian student athletes engaged in superstitious behaviour more than British student athletes. In Study 2, the results suggested that people may enact their positive superstitious beliefs and religion as coping mechanisms and as secondary control strategies to offer them the comfort of feeling in control under conditions of impending failure. Results from the two qualitative studies (Studies 3 and 4) demonstrated some support for elite footballers’ engaging in rituals which serve a functional outcome. These findings suggest that superstitious and religious behaviour can protect against debilitating interpretations of anxiety by increasing self-confidence or allowing athletes to perceive symptoms as controllable and facilitative. Interestingly, athletes who have acquired their superstition by means of conformity note that they experienced cognitive dissonance. Dissonance emerges when two beliefs are inconsistent. Apparent contraction between an athlete’s personal superstitious behaviour and their teams’ superstitious behaviour may give rise to self-doubt, which can erode the athlete’s confidence and create other negative psychological consequences to team process. Study 5 provided empirical evidence for the notion that activation of personal superstition improved performance more than conforming to other superstitions, and that performance was better than that of athletes in the control group. In this regard, the reported findings uniquely contribute to our understanding of superstitions and their effects on psychological as well as behavioural consequences. The present findings are in line with previous research on the psychological functional benefits of superstition. At the same time, these findings suggest fresh interrogations for future research on the subject of superstitions. Possible applications to the student athletes and professional athletes are discussed.

The organizational consequences of information technology (IT) constitutes a core focus in information systems (IS) research. The relationship between organizations and IT has received considerable attention by IS researchers in order to develop knowledge related to how and why organizations and IT are related. While organizational use of IT continues to increase in practice, previous research has shown that the effects of IT at best are difficult to predict. Consequently, the adoption and assimilation of IT in organizational settings must be recognized as complex and challenging processes, which makes the production of knowledge related to such processes important and pressing.   This dissertation identifies, characterizes and explains a paradoxical outcome of the adoption and assimilation of an enterprise content management (ECM) system in a context of organizational information management. The outcome, labeled the duplicate systems paradox, is constituted by a situation in which an organization continuously allows multiple, overlapping, partially competing and largely incompatible information systems to persist and continue to evolve over time, despite continued awareness of the adverse consequences on organizational information management capabilities. A qualitative case study approach was used as the primary means for data collection. The case study was conducted in the administrative divisions of HealthOrg, a large organization in the medical- and health care sector. To this end, the main objective of this dissertation is to investigate how this paradox was formed, and furthermore, how and why it was able to persist. In order to do this, dialectical theory is combined with contextualism and theory on organizational information processing to form a comprehensive theoretical perspective used to inform the analytical efforts.   By using a dialectical approach, the analysis presents empirical evidence of the existence and composition of three overarching contradictions found to affect the formation and persistence of the duplicate systems paradox. More specifically, the resulting explanatory model demonstrates how three pairs of opposites, control versus support at the requirements level, options versus practices at the solutions level, and top-down versus bottom-up approaches at the transformations level, along with contextual tensions, were essential components in the formation and persistence of the paradox. Thus, the duplicate systems paradox could form and continue to evolve due to contradictory forces present at, and interconnected between, different vertical and horizontal levels within the organization. Through the identification and explanation of the duplicate systems paradox, this study provides a detailed example of how, and why, unintended consequences of IT in organizations may emerge and continue over time.   In terms of implications for research and practice, the findings of this dissertation point to six important observations. First, this research suggests that understanding and characterizing the context in which IT is to be implemented is crucial and challenging. Thus, organizations should pay careful attention to the practical side of context, rather than to the somewhat theoretical boundaries of organizations. It is suggested that the concepts of ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ context may be useful in analyzing and understanding context. Second, this research suggests that organizations should attempt to identify potentially conflicting requirements, and devise clear strategies to decide how to prioritize between such requirements as the identification and explication of requirements present at different levels in the organization may reveal problems that need to be considered when choosing information system (IS). Third, organizations need to pay careful attention to what the adoption of a new IS means in terms of adaptation and/or realignment, and to what extent organizational activities, technological functionalities, or both, should be adapted. Organizations should furthermore be aware that the adoption of systems that can also be used as development platforms may cause a cascade of effects and dependencies that are difficult to manage. Fourth, the findings of this research suggest that organizations faced with the challenge of adopting complex IT solutions need to take into account their previous strategies and planned new ones in order to devise a comprehensive strategic approach since the coexistence of radically different strategies may cause uncertainty and inertia within the overall assimilation process. Fifth, this research indicates that IT management and information management (IM) are highly interrelated activities, but are not mutually exclusive. Thus, organizations adopting technologies that are specifically focused on information management may benefit from developing distinct areas of responsibility and clear communication channels between the involved organizational units. Furthermore, these findings suggest that future research should pay careful attention to, and specifically investigate, the exact nature of the relationship between information management and IT management. Finally, this research demonstrates how a dialectical approach may be used to adequately investigate organizational information management, specifically in relation to the adoption and assimilation of IT.

This dissertation investigates the economic consequences from hedge accounting signals and risk management disclosure. I first examine the product market consequences to these accounting signals and related disclosure in Chapter 1, then stock market reactions to disclosure requirements in Chapter 2. Chapter 1 examines potential entrants’ strategic entry decisions in response to incumbents’ accounting information and related disclosure. I predict that potential entrants are more likely to enter markets in which the incumbents’ accounting information suggests higher future production costs that are specific to the incumbents themselves. I further hypothesize that the relation is stronger when the accounting signals are accompanied by more disclosure. Using detailed U.S. airline industry data and hedge accounting disclosure under SFAS 133, I find that potential entrants are more likely to enter routes in which the incumbents’ lower accumulated other comprehensive income from fuel hedges suggests their higher future production costs. This entry pattern is stronger when incumbents have more transparent annual report disclosure regarding their fuel hedge programs. The entry pattern is also stronger after a systematic increase in risk management disclosure requirements following the (exogenous) adoption of SFAS 161. Chapter 2 analyzes stock returns of U.S. airlines around events leading up to the adoption of SFAS 161. SFAS 161 enhanced the disclosure requirements for derivatives and hedging activities. I find that U.S. airlines experienced statistically significant positive returns around the key events leading up to the adoption of SFAS 161. I then examine the cross-sectional variation of the returns around these events. Regression results provide initial support for the real effects theory that greater disclosure requirements could distort firms’ hedging and production decisions and lead to suboptimal behavior. In summary, this dissertation provides evidence that competitors use hedge accounting signals and related disclosure in making product market decisions. Meanwhile, additional risk-management disclosures may also distort firms’ hedging and production behavior, leading to suboptimal decisions. This dissertation sheds light on the ongoing projects by the FASB and the IASB on hedge accounting and disclosure and informs the regulators that costs and benefits should be weighted in hedge accounting policy setting.

This dissertation investigates the economic consequences from hedge accounting signals and risk management disclosure. I first examine the product market consequences to these accounting signals and related disclosure in Chapter 1, then stock market reactions to disclosure requirements in Chapter 2. Chapter 1 examines potential entrants’ strategic entry decisions in response to incumbents’ accounting information and related disclosure. I predict that potential entrants are more likely to enter markets in which the incumbents’ accounting information suggests higher future production costs that are specific to the incumbents themselves. I further hypothesize that the relation is stronger when the accounting signals are accompanied by more disclosure. Using detailed U.S. airline industry data and hedge accounting disclosure under SFAS 133, I find that potential entrants are more likely to enter routes in which the incumbents’ lower accumulated other comprehensive income from fuel hedges suggests their higher future production costs. This entry pattern is stronger when incumbents have more transparent annual report disclosure regarding their fuel hedge programs. The entry pattern is also stronger after a systematic increase in risk management disclosure requirements following the (exogenous) adoption of SFAS 161. Chapter 2 analyzes stock returns of U.S. airlines around events leading up to the adoption of SFAS 161. SFAS 161 enhanced the disclosure requirements for derivatives and hedging activities. I find that U.S. airlines experienced statistically significant positive returns around the key events leading up to the adoption of SFAS 161. I then examine the cross-sectional variation of the returns around these events. Regression results provide initial support for the real effects theory that greater disclosure requirements could distort firms’ hedging and production decisions and lead to suboptimal behavior. In summary, this dissertation provides evidence that competitors use hedge accounting signals and related disclosure in making product market decisions. Meanwhile, additional risk-management disclosures may also distort firms’ hedging and production behavior, leading to suboptimal decisions. This dissertation sheds light on the ongoing projects by the FASB and the IASB on hedge accounting and disclosure and informs the regulators that costs and benefits should be weighted in hedge accounting policy setting.

No description available.

<p>This was a descriptive qualitative study. Eight people living with HIV, four of which had disclosed their status, were individually interviewed. Two focus group discussions (each comprising 6 participants) were also conducted with health workers. The study was based at an urban TB hospital which is currently providing a range of HIV-related services including HIV Voluntary Counselling and Testing, case management and treatment.</p>

Sexturismär ett brett begrepp som mestadels förknippas med västerländska äldre män som reser till utvecklingsländer för att köpa sex. Detta har uppmärksammats sedan början av 1970-talet men på senare år har den kvinnliga sexturismen uppmärksammats allt mer i den svenska media. Studien redogör för den svenska kvinnliga sexturismen utomlands, med Gambia som fallstudie. När svensk media talar om fenomenet används förskönande beskrivningar, där kvinnornas beteender omantiseras i jämförelse med männens sexturism. Problematiseringen med detta är att två lika handlingar med samma syfte, beskrivs på två olika vis, beroende på kön. Studien redogör för hur svensk media väljer att framställa den kvinnliga sexturismen, de underliggande motiven till framställningen och slutligen hur den ensidiga framställningen påverkar Gambia socialt, kulturell och ekonomiskt. För att studien skulle bli genomförbar har ett antal intervjuer gjorts med två journalister och en skribent som skrivit om liknande ämnen. Dessutom har fyra intervjuer gjorts med respondenter som någon gång rest eller reser till Gambia. Tidigare forskning, teoretisk referensram och empirisk material har analyserats för att ge svar på studiens syfte och frågeställningar. Resultatet av hela studien visar att svensk media framställer den kvinnliga sexturismen som något romantiskt och oskyldigt, dels för att kvinnorna själva väljer att kalla deras handlingar för romanser, dels för att samhället ser kvinnornas handlingar som mindre skadliga. Konsekvensernamed detta är att landets image påverkas negativt, vilket resulterar till att Gambia stämplas som ett oattraktivt resemål. Den kvinnliga sexturismen är inte hållba ri längden vilket leder till att Gambia stannar i en stagnationsfas.

Problem: Stress at the workplace has become an increasing phenomenon due to external factors such as technological advancement, changes in the economy of a country which might lead to becoming redundant and so on. Stress can be considered as an inevitable condition at least at one point in time or another; however it can also be minimized to the extent that the productivity and health of the employee is maintained which could lead to a productive organization. Stress is also bound to occur in multinational companies where operation is global and employees have different cultural background.Purpose: Our purpose for this study is to have a clear understanding of the causes of stress at a multinational company such as Volvo Trucks AB Umeå, and how Stress by the employees as well as the company’s management are managed or handled.Methodology: This thesis has been made using qualitative approach, with a descriptive and exploratory case study approach. The data used are collected through conducting semi-structured interviews with 6 different employees from Volvo Trucks AB, Umeå one of whom works as a therapist at the company.Findings: The causes of stress at the work place range from personal problems to work overload, physical working environment, work situation and conflicts among colleagues and managers. Many employees struggle with stress, in worst cases leading to uncertainties and severe impairments on health and performance. The main situations that generate stress are likely uncontrollable, unpredictable, and some are not known. But alternatively there are several resources available like personal awareness in coping skills. For example: time management, assertiveness, ways to higher up self-confidence and so on. Management can also utilize some resources for reducing the stress level of the employees by providing services and facilities such as health facilities at the company, giving easy and on time access to therapist and also having free time activities and entertainment. Stress is related between the employee and the employer as the performance of the employee is affected by his/her stress level which intern affects the company’s productivity. Therefore stress management is Vital for both. The most successful stress management mechanisms found was time management, sharing of feelings and leisure activities.