The concept of sickness behavior offers a framework to view both the neurovegetative and psychological symptoms that accompany illness as a common entity that results from increased inflammatory activation. Despite the prevalence of sickness behavior in medical populations, to our knowledge this study provides the first attempt to develop a standardized measure to assess sickness behavior using standard self-report questionnaires commonly used with cancer patients. The set of items included in the measure match theoretical conceptualizations of sickness behavior and target symptoms that comprise anhedonia, depressed mood, cognitive dysfunction, social disinterest, fatigue, low libido, poor appetite, somnolence, sensitivity to pain, and malaise. The measure showed high internal consistency, adequate test-retest reliability, and good convergent validity with both psychological and biological correlates. A confirmatory factor analysis also determined that a two-factor, rather than a single-factor measurement model, encompassing a physical and a psychological sickness symptom dimension, accounted for sickness behavior. Future psychometric work is still needed to further validate this new practical assessment tool. Descriptive analyses revealed relatively low levels of sickness behavior symptoms in the sample as a whole with both physical and psychological sickness behavior symptoms exhibiting a significant linear decrease over time. As expected, both physical and psychological sickness behavior symptoms showed associations with two pro-inflammatory cytokine markers, IL6 and TNF-alpha and a neuroendocrine marker, cortisol. Longitudinal associations suggest that higher levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha may impact the progressive decline of physical sickness symptoms over time with symptoms taking longer to disappear. Because cortisol was associated with more rather than less physical sickness symptoms, results raise the question of whether the anti-inflammatory neuroendocrine activity may be dysregulated in breast cancer survivors. The mechanistic basis for these associations requires further examination. In this study it was also evaluated whether a cognitive behavioral stress management intervention and relaxation training intervention could reduce sickness symptoms over time. Breast cancer survivors were assessed at baseline and then randomly assigned to a 10-week cognitive behavioral stress management intervention (N = 70) or a 1-day control condition (N = 55). Psychosocial measures, urine, and blood were obtained from participants at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months post-intervention to assess relevant behavioral, endocrine and immune variables. Relative to the control group, the experimental group showed marginally more prevalence of physical sickness behavior symptoms in the short term (post-intervention, 3-months; p = .08) and a steadier decline of symptoms in the long-term (15-month follow-up period). The adaptive nature of sickness behavior as a motivational strategy that helps restore homeostatic balance in the long run may be one possible interpretation of these results. Whether these intervention effects on sickness behavior were mediated by changes in pro-inflammatory cytokines or cortisol was examined but not supported by these data and needs to be further examined in future studies.

Today it has become critical that people adapt their behavior and lifestyles to environmental constraints. Teachers are supposed to teach pupils to accept personal responsibility in regard to these problems. The pedagogies of Waldorf and public schools have different outlooks on nature, hence it was hypothesized that Waldorf and public teachers would differ in regard to pro-environmental behavior and factors explaining such actions. An e-questionnaire measuring pro-environmental behavior, biospheric and altruistic values, feelings of personal responsibility, and pro-environmental attitudes was filled out by 68 Waldorf teachers and 73 public teachers from different municipalities in Sweden. The results suggest that Waldorf teachers report higher biospheric values (partial eta2 = .46, p < .001), more pro-environmental behavior (partial eta2 = .39, p < .001), more feelings of personal responsibility, (partial eta2 = .32, p < .001), and higher altruistic values (partial eta2 = .12, p < .001), than public school teachers do. There were a few limitations in reliability and possibly with social desirability. However, the present study paves the way for an understanding of how pedagogy can be of help in preventing further environmental problems.

This thesis will focus on how growth in GDP has been allocated among the people in Brazil, during the years of 1976 and 2003. Moreover poverty and inequalities are investigated along with poverty reduction, thus if growth has been pro poor will be presented. The study analyse if growth has benefited the poorest part of the population in Brazil. In addition the regional differences – the southeast and the northeast – are analyzed separately in order to see if there is any difference in the two regions in the agricultural and the industrial sector respectively. This is done to see if there is any correlation between growth and poverty reduction. We used a theory by Arthur Lewis who developed a two sector model where only two sectors existed the agricultural and industrial the so called “Lewis organizational dualism”. This model was later to be modified by Gunnar Myrdal and Nicholas Kaldor, who blamed the current situation of every society on “historical accident” where, because of an upward spiral of cumulative causation, urban areas grew and regions in the periphery stagnated. We used data that was collected from Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA; Institute of Applied Economic Research) between the periods 1976 – 2003. We found that the income in the poorest part of the population seemed to grow at a much slower past that of the rich. Moreover, measured as by the headcount index – the share of the population that lives under $2 per day – has been reduced over time in total Brazil, but not in the agricultural sector in either region. Surprisingly industrial growth has only been beneficial for the poor in the northern part of the country. Therefore the conclusion is that poverty has not been pro poor in either relative or absolute terms. / Denna uppsats kommer att fokusera på hur tillväxt i Brasilien har blivit distribuerad mellan åren 1976 och 2003. Fattigdom och sociala skillnader undersöks för att se om fattigdomen har minskat, alltså om tillväxten har varit ”pro poor”. Detta analyseras på landsnivå för att sedan brytas ner på två regioner, den sydöstra och den nordöstra, för att lättare kunna jämföra skillnaderna mellan de olika regionera i de två olika sektorer; jordbrukssektorn och den industriella sektorn. Detta är gjort för att se om det finns något samband mellan tillväxt och fattigdoms reducering. Vi använde oss av ”Lewis organizational dualism” utvecklad av Arthur Lewis, som består av två olika sektorer, den industriella och jordbrukssektorn. Den kom sedan att revideras av Gunnar Myrdal and Nicholas Kaldor, som hävdade att det samhället som vi lever i idag är skapat av historiska tillfälligheter där de liknade städernas utveckling vid en uppåtgående spiral av ackumulerade tillfälligheter som gör att det fortsätter att växa varvid de regioner i periferin stagnerar eller rent av går tillbaka. Vi använde oss av data från Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA; Institutet för tillämpad ekonomisk forskning) mellan åren 1976 – 2003. Våra resultat visade att inkomsten hos de fattigaste väste mycket långsammare än de rikas. Vidare, mätt med måttet ”headcount index” – alltså de som lever under $2 per dag – har reducerats under de åren som vi har undersökt i hela Brasilien. I jordbrukssektorn har fattigdomen inte reducerats alls, verken i den nordöstra eller den sydöstra delen av landet. Det som är förvånansvärt är att fattigomen endast har reducerats i de nordöstra delarna, tack vare industriell utveckling. Därför drar vi slutsatsen att tillväxten i Brasilien inte har varit ”pro poor”, verken i den relativa eller den absoluta bemärkelsen.

This research explores the controversial nature of the pro-anorexia (pro-ana) websites. While previous studies have been conducted on the nature of these websites, it is essential to uncover the motivating factors behind maintaining a pro-ana identity. The purpose of my research is two-fold; a) uncover the definition of the idealized female body within the pro-ana websites, drawing connections between the idealized female body as conceptualized within our current society, and within the pro-ana websites; b) to demonstrate the core values held by pro-ana users that enable them to pursue their goal of achieving the idealized female body. <p> The theoretical framework for this thesis is based upon the work of feminist scholar Susan Bordo. Specifically, her analysis of the idealized female body within Western culture acted as the lens through which pro-ana websites were examined. A five step critical discourse analysis approach put forth by Norman Fairclough was implemented to guide the research and data analysis. Textual data was collected from three different pro-ana websites over the period of one week. In addition to discourse analysis, a brief content analysis was used to distinguish the common themes of posting topics. <p> From the results of the content analysis, the definition of the idealized female body according to the pro-ana users was created. In addition, the three underlying values held by pro-ana users during their pursuit of the idealized body -- discipline, self-surveillance and drive emerged from the data collection and analysis. It is important to distinguish that an underlying need to maintain constant control is present. <p> As the existing literature on this topic is still undergoing development, the results of this study offer key insights into the underlying motivations of those users found within pro-ana websites. It is clear that further research is needed in order to distinguish new and desperately needed approaches to treating eating disorders as they are only becoming more prevalent within society.

This dissertation attempts to examine the effect of urbanization on poverty reduction outcomes by considering various dimensions of poverty and channels of reducing poverty. First, we develop a theoretical model in order to infer a relationship between urbanization and poverty reduction outcomes. Specifically, it shows an optimal level of urbanization to properly allocate basic public infrastructure and promote pro-poor growth. Second, we conduct empirical analysis on international data to examine the testable hypotheses that are derived from the theoretical model. Further, we explore the “channeled effects” of urbanization on basic education and health by the IV estimation and on productivity by the dynamic panel GMM estimation. As the theoretical model suggests, our results exhibit the statistically significant relationship in a non-linear form between urbanization and poverty. In addition, we explore the impact of urbanization on poverty reduction outcomes in different regions in order to see the various magnitudes of urbanization effects among regions.

This dissertation presents two studies on the value relevance and perceived credibility of pro forma earnings. In the first study, I investigate the value relevance of pro forma earnings relative to two alternative earnings measures GAAP earnings and analysts actual earnings. Value relevance is assessed using two approaches. The first approach examines whether the markets expectations (contemporaneous returns or price) is best reflected in future pro forma earnings, future GAAP earnings, or future analysts actual earnings. The second approach is to determine through pair-wise comparisons of the three earnings measures (e.g., pro forma earnings versus GAAP earnings), which has the greatest explanatory power (comparing adjusted R2s) in explaining price and returns. Across approaches and models, each of the three earnings measures tends to be value relevant. However, Pro forma is consistently the most value relevant, followed by analysts actuals, with GAAP earnings having the least value relevance. That is, pro forma earnings have the greatest information content. This finding is consistent with managers, in aggregate, using pro forma to inform rather than to manage expectations or to mislead. <p>In the second study, I examine the impact of credibility attributes board characteristics, auditor quality and overall information quality on the value relevance of pro forma earnings. It is hypothesized that the credibility attributes will have a statistically significant impact on investors reaction to pro forma earnings. Consistent with the predictions, I find that stronger board characteristics, higher auditor quality and higher overall information quality are positively associated with higher market reaction to the pro forma announcement. That is, credibility attributes increase the value relevance of pro forma earnings. This finding is consistent with some firms providing pro forma earnings that are perceived to be credible and others providing pro formas that are perceived as less credible and possibly provided to manage expectations or to mislead.

The circadian system provides living organisms a means to adapt their internal physiology to constantly changing environmental conditions that exists on our rotating planet, Earth. Clocks in peripheral tissues are referred to as peripheral which may participate in tissue-specific functions. The first step to investigating the circadian regulation in the peripheral tissues of avians was to examine for the presence of avian orthologs of core components of the molecular clock using Quantitative real time (qRTPCR) assays. We investigated the avian spleen for daily and circadian control of core clock genes and regulation of the inflammatory response by the spleen clock. The core clock genes, bmal1, bmal2, per2, per3 and clock displayed both daily and circadian rhythms. Proinflammatory cytokines TNFα, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-18 exhibited daily and circadian rhythmic oscillations. A differential expression of proinflammatory cytokine induction was observed in the spleen undergoing lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute inflammation. Exogenous melatonin administration during inflammation seems to enhance some and repress a few inflammatory cytokines, implying that melatonin is pleiotropic molecule. To compare and contrast the role of peripheral clocks in regulating energy balance and reproduction in layer vs. broiler chicken, the visceral adipose tissue (VAT), ovary and hypothalamus were examined for the presence of core clock genes were investigated in these two lines of poultry birds. Quantitative RT-PCR was employed to examine daily control of core clock genes in these three peripheral tissues over a 24hr period. The layer hens exhibit rhythmic oscillations in the mRNA abundance of the core clock genes in the VAT, ovary and the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus and VAT of the broiler hens exhibit rhythmic mRNA abundance of the core clock genes. However, the clock genes in the ovary of the broiler pullets exhibit marked reduction in their amplitude and rhythms over a 24hr period. The broiler hens are prone to poor energy balance, obesity and reproductive capacity. In summary, these data provide evidence for a functional link between the circadian clock and the ovary by determining clock gene regulation under conditions of disrupted or eliminated reproductive function vs. normal reproductive output.

This is a 15 credits thesis in mechanical engineering performed at the PLM Solutions group at the Rocktec division within Atlas Copco Rock Drills AB, Örebro, during spring 2012. When designers working with 3D CAD modeling uses different work methods in Pro/ENGINEER (Pro/E) it sometimes results in problems. It is also a problem when designers do not follow the specific work methods defined by Atlas Copco.   The purpose of this thesis was to identify the most common problems with 3D models at Atlas Copco Rock Drills AB (RDE) Örebro related to work methods, for example why models crash, why they cannot be checked in to Pro/Intralink or why there are unstable references. The objective was to present a work method to avoid one or two of the most severe problems identified at RDE Örebro.   To achieve the objective I started with going through the CAD support call data base, to find out in what areas the organization needed help from the CAD support. The result shows that the engineers request most support in how to use both the modeling and the drawing modules in Pro/E. I also came up with a suggestion for redesign of the CAD support call data base system, that could reduce the time needed for this kind of analysis from days to minutes.   Thereafter a number of engineers, all with high skills in Pro/E, were selected for personal interviews. The topic was to identify any lack in defined work methods in Pro/E causing problems that are taking long time to correct. The result shows that the biggest issue for the users is references. I also performed a benchmarking with two other companies within the Atlas Copco Group looking at their CAD guidelines regarding the issues found during the interviews.   Thirdly, one assembly each from six different departments were selected and sent to PTC for an in depth analysis with their software tool Expert Model Analysis. The goal was to find any systematic issues regarding work methods in Pro/E. The analysis confirmed what the engineers earlier had brought up as the main issues, namely, references, mass/weight handling and structure in the model tree. / Detta är en 15 hp examensarbete i maskinteknik som utförs på PLM Solutions Group på Rocktec divisionen inom Atlas Copco Rock Drills AB i Örebro, under våren 2012.När konstruktörerna arbetar med 3D CAD modellering använder de olika arbetsmetoder i Pro/ENGINEER (Pro/E) vilket ibland leder till problem. Det är också ett problem när konstruktörerna inte följer de arbetsmetoder som definierats av Atlas Copco.Syftet med detta examensarbete var att identifiera de vanligaste problemen med 3D-modeller på Atlas Copco Rock Drills AB (RDE) i Örebro relaterat till arbetsmetoder, till exempel varför modellerna kraschar, varför de inte kan checkas in i Pro/Intralink eller varför det finns instabila referenser. Målet var att presentera en arbetsmetod för att undvika ett eller två av de mest allvarliga problemen identifierade vid RDE Örebro. För att uppnå målet började jag med att gå igenom CAD-supportens samtalsdatabas, för att ta reda på inom vilka områden användarna behövde hjälp från CAD-support. Resultatet visar att konstruktörerna behöver mest hjälp med hur man använder både modellerings- och ritningsmodulerna i Pro/E. Jag tog också fram ett förslag till hur CAD-supportens samtalsdatabas kan göras om, som skulle kunna minska tiden som behövs för denna typ av analys från dagar till minuter. Därefter valdes ett antal ingenjörer ut, alla med hög kompetens inom Pro/E, för personliga intervjuer. Syftet var att identifiera eventuella brist i befintliga arbetsmetoder i Pro/E, vilka orsakar problem som tar lång tid att rätta till. Resultatet visar att det största problemet för användarna är referenser. Jag utförde också en benchmarking med två andra bolag inom Atlas Copco-gruppen genom att jämföra deras CAD rekommendationer kring de problem som kom fram under de tidigare intervjuerna. Som tredje del i examensarbetet valdes en CAD-modell från vardera sex olika avdelningar och skickades till PTC för en fördjupad analys med deras program Expert Model Analysis (XMA). Målet var att hitta systematiska problem gällande arbetsmetoder i Pro/E. XMA-analysen bekräftade vad ingenjörerna tidigare hade fört fram som de viktigaste frågorna, nämligen referenser, massa/vikt hantering och struktur i modellen trädet.

This dissertation comprises two essays that attempt to determine, empirically, the fiscal response of governments’ to international assistance. The first essay examines whether an increasingly popular recommendation in international aid policy to switch from tied foreign assistance to untied foreign assistance affects investment in critical development expenditure sectors by developing countries. In the past, most international aid has been in the form of tied assistance as donors believed that tying aid will improve its effectiveness. It has been argued, that if tied aid is well designed and effectively managed then its overall effectiveness can be improved. On the contrary, it is also believed that tied aid acts as an impediment to donor cooperation and the building of partnership with developing countries. In addition, it is also argued that it removes the ‘feeling’ of ownership and responsibility of projects from partner countries in aid supported development. Two other more popular arguments used to challenge the effectiveness of foreign aid is that it is compromised when tied to the goods and services of the donor countries because almost 30 percent of its value is eliminated and also because it does not allow recipient countries to act on their priorities for public spending. These problems bring into question whether tied aid is truly the most effective way to help poor countries. A recommendation by the international community is that a switch to untied aid would be necessary. With untied aid, the recipient country is not obligated to buy the goods of the donor country neither is it compelled to pursue the public expenditure priorities of donors. Instead with untied aid they will have greater flexibility over spending decisions and can more easily pursue the priorities of their countries as they see fit. Hence, one could expect that a one dollar increase in untied aid will increase spending in the critical priority sectors by more than a one dollar increase in tied assistance. The question therefore is whether national domestic priorities coincide or not with what the international community has traditionally deemed should be priority. Empirically, we test this prediction using country-by-country data for 57 countries for the period 1973 to 2006. The results suggest that on average untied aid has a greater impact on pro-poor spending than do tied aid. In addition, the results also suggest that fungibility is still an issue even after accounting for the effects of untied aid. However, one could argue that fungibility may not be as bad as it appears since the switch to untied aid improves spending in the sectors that are essential for growth and development. The second essay explores the hypothesis that the expectations of debt forgiveness can discourage developing countries from attaining fiscal independence through an improvement of their tax effort. On the one hand, the international financial community typically advises poor countries to improve revenue mobilization but, on the other hand, the same international community routinely continues to bail-out poor countries that fail to meet their loan repayment obligations. The act of bailing-out these countries creates an expectation on the part of developing country governments that they will receive debt forgiveness time and again in the future. Therefore, the expectation of future bail outs creates a moral hazard that leads to endemic lower tax efforts. The key prediction of our simple theoretical model is that in the presence of debt forgiveness, tax ratios will decline and this decline will be stronger the higher the frequency and intensity of the bailouts. Empirically, we test this prediction using country-level data for 66 countries for the period 1989 to 2006. The results strongly suggest that debt forgiveness plays a significant role in the low tax effort observed in developing countries. Our empirical model allows for the endogeneity of tax effort and debt forgiveness. Interestingly we find that more debt forgiveness is actually provided to countries with lower tax effort. The results are robust to various specifications.

This report is the result of a thesis as been implemented during the spring term 2009 at the University of Gävle. The company Bruks produces mobile chippers which are used for chipping logging slash, roundwood and parts of trees. The chipper is powered by a separate diesel engine and the chipper can be assembled on trucks, trailers or some other carrier vehicles. When the chip has passed the chipper drum, the chip is collected in an integrated bin which is mounted on the vehicles frame with dumping yokes. When these dumping yokes were designed they were probably created with large material dimensions. The aim with the degree project is hence to study the strengths of materials and, if possible, to suggest an arrangement that can decrease the total weight on the dumping yoke on Bruks´ mobile chippers 805 CT. The CAD-program Pro/ENGINEER was used during the project for outlining the 2Ddrawings, as distributed of constructors on Bruks, to solid 3D-parts. The three-dimensional assembly from Pro/ENGINEER was transferred to Pro/MECHANICA. The construction is complex and contains many components, and therefore the model has been divided into two different parts, the external and the internal dumping yoke. The conclusion of the degree project is that the product generally is not over dimensioned. However there are many options for optimizing, mainly on the external dumping yokes.