Culture shapes the expression and understanding of psychological disorders and plays a role in the emergence of culture-specific syndromes. In particular, certain cultures endorse beliefs in witchcraft, spells and spirits, which fall under the concept „folklore‟. Folklore beliefs like witchcraft and spirit possession and their assumed impact on the manifestation of psychological disturbances persist today. It thus becomes apparent that these cultural aspects will have an impact on how psychological disturbances are experienced and treated in different communities. Given this, the concept of psychological disturbance needs to be aligned with the culture of the afflicted individual if one is to holistically understand and treat him or her. In addition, considering that many cultures include a belief in the spiritual self, a need to understand its‟ alleged role in psychopathology exists (Ashy, 1999; Eldam, 2001; Smith, 2005). 6 Consequently, if one is to effectively understand diverse communities, an exploration of the impact that spiritual beliefs have on community members‟ perceptions of psychological disturbance is imperative. By focusing on the folklore beliefs of South African Muslim and Hindu community members, this study aims to promote a deeper understanding of the impact that these beliefs have on perceptions of psychological disturbances. Data was collected from four focus group discussions with two Muslim and two Hindu groups, comprising a total of 22 individuals. The interview schedule based on the salient themes from the literature guided the direction of the interview. This also allowed for clarification and exploration of new information. The data was analysed using thematic content analysis after the researcher had „cross-tabulated‟ participant responses. This enabled the researcher to sift through the data in a systematic manner, identifying themes that were indicative of the research questions. Responses to the questions fell into three broad categories: the participants‟ understanding of psychological disturbances, the participants‟ understanding of spiritual illnesses, and the impact of religious and/or cultural beliefs on the participants. Perceptions of psychological disturbances were found to reflect religious and cultural beliefs. A lay understanding of psychological disturbances was also reflected by the participants.

Peatlands store nearly one third of the soil global carbon, and approximately 10% of the world's drinkable water on only 3% of the land surface. Peatlands store large amounts of carbon from the organic matter due to the reduced decomposition rates in the soil allowing the accumulation of new plant growth each year. Rising temperatures and increasing nutrient inputs from human activities can accelerate decomposition rates in the soil transforming peatlands from sinks to sources of carbon, and reducing their ability to regulate the local hydrological cycles. To identify how rising temperatures and increasing human originated disturbances have peatlands, I studied the current vegetation patterns and related them to elevation, temperature and disturbance environmental gradients, explored the recent history (last 200 years) of the peatland vegetation, and built models that described the past rates of gains by primary production and losses due to decomposition; finally I constructed a forecasting model to describe the dynamics of northern Andean peatlands. Past vegetation and historic production and decomposition rates were estimated from 210Pb chronologies. Results indicate a strong effect of the interaction between elevation and the intensity of human disturbance; superficial carbon stocks were negatively affected by human disturbances that at the same time favored the encroachment of upland vascular species. Elevation was an important gradient with lower peat accumulation rates at higher elevations, except when water from glacial meltdown was supplied in which case production reached extremely high values. Modeling of peatland dynamics indicated increasing decomposition rates in sites with high human disturbance, an effect that propagated towards the future in the form of net losses of carbon in the upper part of the peat column. Conversely, sites with low human disturbance or at high elevations but receiving water from glacial meltdown become larger carbon sinks. In conclusion, climate change is having a direct and measurable effect on the dynamics of northern Andean peat dynamics; however, the effects become less predictable when interactions with the climatic or human systems are included. The rate of peat degradation due to modifications in the environment indicates the urgency to better understand the northern Andean peatland ecosystems. In conclusion: high elevation peatlands in the Northern Andes are ecosystems that offer extremely important ecological services but that may have started an irreversible decline.

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DISAB Vacuum Technology AB (DISAB) tillverkar vakuumsystem för att skapa en spill- och dammfri industriell arbetsmiljö. I Eslöv, där det huvudsakligen tillverkas mobila systemen i form av vakuumlastare, står DISAB inför utmaningar vad kommer till produktionen av vakuumlastare. Produkterna innefattar mycket kundanpassning och kunderna kan välja mellan många optioner. Detta i kombination med att produktionen utsätts för olika typer av störningar som att material saknas, bristande kvalitet på ingående material och felmonteringar gör att ledtiderna varierar mellan olika projekt. Företaget vill undersöka hur delar av Lean kan användas i syfte att minska ledtidsvariationerna och därmed öka förutsägbarheten i produktionen. Idag arbetar företaget inte processorienterat och av denna anledning inleddes arbetet med att kartlägga produktionens delprocesser för att skapa en helhetsbild. Vidare valdes delprocessen Förmontage drivdel ut på begäran av företaget och då montaget inte är lika optionsstyrt som andra delprocesser. Tre olika drivdelsmodeller följdes i produktionen. Data samlades in gällande störningar, vilken tid respektive processteg tog att utföra och vilken tid det borde ha tagit om störningarna inte uppkommit. Störningarna som samlades in klassificerades som materialjustering, materialbrist, processfel eller övrigt. Störningar kopplade till material var mest förekommande där materialjustering var den största kategorin följt av materialbrist. Materialjustering innefattade störningar som krävde någon typ av korrigering av materialet. Dessa justeringar krävs då leverantören inte levererar enligt specifikation samt att DISAB ibland beställer material på felaktiga underlag. Materialbrist innefattade störningar då materialet inte fanns tillgängligt. Ofta orsakades detta av att materialet inte var plockat korrekt på plockvagnarna, vilket berodde på utformningen av plocklistorna men även att materialet inte fanns i lager.   Vidare togs ett antal lösningsförslag fram i syfte att åtgärda identifierade problem och öka förutsägbarheten i produktionen. DISAB rekommenderas att fortsätta arbetet med processorienteringen för att bestämma vilka processteg som ska utföras i vilken delprocess och i vilken ordning dessa ska genomföras. Detta utgör en grundförutsättning för vidare åtgärder som handlar om att göra plocklistorna produktionsorienterade samt säkerställa att rätt material tillförs till rätt delprocess. Slutligen rekommenderas införandet av en ankomstkontroll för kritiska komponenter, som kan orsaka kostsamma problem om dessa är felaktiga. Rutinerna för ritningsändringar bör även ses över och förenklas, i syfte att minska problem med att material beställs på felaktiga underlag. / DISAB Vacuum Technology AB (DISAB) manufactures vacuum systems to create a waste and dust free industrial working environment. In Eslöv, where the mobile systems are produced, DISAB stands before some challenges regarding the production of the vacuum loaders. The products involve a lot of adaptation to customer requirements and the customers can choose between a wide variety of options. This, combined with the disturbances that the production is exposed to like missing material, bad quality of components and incorrect assembly leads to varying lead times for the different projects. The company wants to examine how parts of Lean can be used to decrease the variety in lead times and increase the predictability of the production.  In the current situation the company doesn’t work process-oriented and for this reason the study began with mapping the production’s sub-processes to produce an overall picture. Furthermore, the sub-process Pre-assembly drive part was selected on request by the company and because the assembly is not effected as much by the options as other processes. Three different drive part models were studied in the production. Data were collected regarding disturbances, the time a process step took to perform and what time it would have taken if the disturbances had not occurred. Disturbances were classified as material adjustment, lack of material, process error or other. Disturbances linked to materials were most common where material adjustment was the largest category followed by lack of material. Material adjustment included the disturbances that required some type of correction of the material. These adjustments are required when the supplier doesn’t deliver according to specification or when DISAB sometimes orders materials on an incorrect basis. The lack of material includes disturbances when the material was not available. This was often due to the material not being picked correctly on the picking trolleys because of the picking lists design, but also material not being in stock.   Further on, several proposals were created to address the problems that have been identified to increase the predictability of the production. DISAB is recommended to continue the work with the process-orientation to settle which process steps belong to which sub-process and the order in which these steps should be carried out. This gives the foundation to some further actions regarding the picking lists, making them production-orientated and securing that they contain the correct items. Lastly, the process of receiving control is recommended for critical components that can cause costly problems if they are faulty. Also, the routine for updating blueprints should be checked and simplified to reduce the problems of ordering material on an incorrect basis.

<p> The movement of diamond drills by tracked vehicles and drill trailers in south Central Keewatin was studied during the summer of 1980. Tests of the physical ground strength showed that the ability of the terrain to resist disturbance from tracked vehicle operations depended on two main physical factors: the type of surficial material and the presence of water. Moisture contents varied throughout the summer so that the response of till and peat to compression and shear was not constant. As the summer proqressed, the increasing depth of thaw and gradual surface drying caused strengthening of both major types of surficial material. As a result, vehicle trafficability gradually increased throughout the summer. While surface rutting increased the depth of thaw compared to an undisturbed site, especially in peat, after the first few weeks of the thaw this had little apparent effect on vehicle trafficability. In many cases the vehicle disturbance was largely aesthetic giving the impression that the terrain disturbance was much more serious than it actually was.</p> <p> Although the load distribution of the vehicle tracks concentrated much of the longitudinal stress directly beneath the bogie wheels, in most cases the performance of the tracked vehicle itself was adequate. However, problems caused by the drill trailer wheels resulted in unnecessary mechanical strain on the vehicles and created marked increases in terrain disturbance.</p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide and the second leading cause of all-cancer mortality. Breast cancer is a multifactorial disease with several elements that contribute to its development. Several lines of evidence suggest that disruptions in circadian rhythm may increase the risk of breast cancer, primarily through decreasing the body’s production of melatonin, a molecule that combats tumorigenesis through antioxidant, anti-angiogenic, and anti-aromatase properties. Sleep characteristics like insomnia, sleep duration, chronotype, and participating in night shift work have all been studied to determine their impact on breast cancer risk. While there is research both in support of and against each of the previously mentioned sleep characteristics’ role in breast cancer development, the majority of studies that have been carried out are supportive of some form of causal association between sleep disturbances and breast cancer incidence and progression. The variability in various studies suggests that sleep disturbance may need to be particularly severe or persist for many years in order to have tumorigenic effects. This connection between sleep and breast cancer suggests that maintaining healthy sleep habits may reduce the risk of breast cancer over time. Taking melatonin supplements, participating in cognitive behavioral therapy, exercising regularly, and limiting exposure to blue light have all been shown to be useful practices for improving sleep quality; thus, these techniques may be useful for reducing breast cancer risk in women who experience sleep disturbances.

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In this thesis, the effect of the following three aspects related to the generation and efficient transport of vortex rings were studied. They included: 1) the initial boundary condition where the vortex ring is generated. A comparison between previous results and the data obtained in this study showed that vortex rings generated at a tube orifice were both slower in velocity and larger in size than vortex rings generated at a plate orifice under similar conditions. 2) the presence of a stratified layer of fluid in a vessel. Flow visualization experiments showed that after a vortex ring penetrated through the interface of the stratified layer, it was able to mix the fluid inside the ring with the surrounding fluid. The amount of mixing depended on the depth of penetration of the ring into the stratified layer. An empirical relationship was obtained to predict the maximum penetration depth of a vortex ring into a stratified layer. It is: Xp/Rm - -29.7 log10Ri - 22.7 3) the proximity of a wall or another vortex ring to the path of the primary ring. Through numerical simulation, it was shown that the primary ring would slow down and turn away from its original path. Eventually, this ring would either crash into the wall or collide with another ring. In order to prevent this turning of a vortex ring from happening, the centre of the generation orifice should be 7.5 times the radius of the injection orifice (Rm) from the wall or (Rm) between two generation orifices. These results can be used to optimize the design and positioning of vortex ring mixers for various mixing vessel geometries and mixing processes. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)