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The thesis deals with the design of ingots from duplex (austenitic-ferritic) stainless steels in terms of minimal occurrence of axial porosity. The optimal shape and dimension of the ingot and the casting conditions are determined based on numerical simulations. The resulting internal quality of the realized ingot is evaluated. The presence of shrinkage porosity is determined by penetrant testing. The degree of chemical heterogeneity, the extent of macrosegregation, of selected elements in given ingot locations is measured by an optical emission spectrometer. Segregation values are compared with simulation results. The micro-purity of the ingot is assessed on the basis of metallographic samples.

Health care-organizations in Sweden are trying to replace the nursing profession in matters that the nurses are trained to do - which is care-related work – while it is only occasionally due to a lack of nurses. While this is happening, the care-related aspect of the profession is said to be the most appealing quality for people who wish to become nurses; “to make adifference for people in need”. This “pure” quality in a profession is hypothesized by Andrew Abbott (1981) to translate into high internal status within a profession. With this thesis, I aim to explore the relationship between professional status and “pure” work in the nurse-profession: How the “pure” work can be identified and how we can understand it in relation to the “impure” work, why nurses value some nurse specialists higher than others regarding status and how the dichotomy of “pure” and “impure” work affects this distribution of status within the profession. My chosen theory is based on Andrew Abbotts input to the debate of what constitutes professional status. He argues that if a profession does more professionally relevant work, it gets higher internal status (Abbott 1981). This theory is “only” based on historically strong, “classical” professions, to which I would like to contribute to by applying the theory to the nurse-profession. In order to do this, I have conducted seven semi-structured interviews and a form to evaluate how nurses’ rate eleven nurse-specialists according to status and how the themes of status are connected to the education and the work of the non-specialized nurse – the theoretically “pure” work. The non-specialized nurse is trained to have a full picture regarding patients, which includes both medical actions and basic caring needs. This is the nurses’ pure work. The nurses are not trained for the number of administrative tasks that the clinical reality demands, but it is a part of the full picture of the patient. Although it may appear as if it were impure work, calling this impure work is incorrect because of its’ pure qualities as a part of the full picture. The strongest consensus about attributed status is regarding the specialists with the highest and the lowest status. These attributions to status are based on the specific knowledge and the life-depending work of the specialists, which converge into each other as the same specialists has the same attributed status in both status-themes. This is opposite of what Abbott argues gives professional status because it is the low status-specialists that can be replaced by non- specialized nurses: Which practices, per definition, the pure work of the profession. In these areas of the low status specialist, the basic work of a non-specialized nurse suffices, which would also mean that the professionally purest work is done in these areas of work. This contradicts Abbotts argument that the purest work achieves the highest internal status.

The sagebrush steppe is a particularly sensitive ecosystem that is easily disturbed by fires, oil and gas extraction, woody-plant encroachment, and overgrazing. The natural regeneration of native species following a disturbance within this system is typically slow and sporadic, which allows invasive grasses to occupy the landscape. Attempts to assist the recovery of these landscapes through direct seeding is commonly met with poor success rates, particularly in lower elevation, drier sites. Novel seed enhancement technologies and planting techniques that mitigate limiting factors impairing restoration efforts may improve the likelihood of restoring these degraded areas. For chapter 1, we evaluated a solid-matrix priming technique, where bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata) and Lewis flax (Linum lewisii) were primed and then the priming matrix and seed were pelleted together. We evaluated primed seed that had been incorporated into pellets at two field sites against seed that was pelleted but been left unprimed, and untreated seed (control). These three seed treatments were planted in the spring (mid-march) in shallow (2-cm) and deep (15-cm) furrows, in a complete factorial design. We found that primed seeds generally produced higher plant densities than control seed at the beginning of the growing season; however, its influence diminished towards the end of the growing season. We also found that deep furrows increased plant density throughout the growing season and even into the following year. The combination of priming and deep furrows outperformed control seed in shallow furrows in all measured metrics. For chapter 2, we evaluated a seed conglomeration technique for improving Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. Wyomingensis) emergence and survival under fall and winter plantings. The trial was implemented at five sites across Utah and Nevada in a randomized complete block-split-split plot design, with site, and planting season, comprising the split-plot factors. Each site and season combination was seeded with conglomerated and control seed. We found that in most cases, a fall seeding of Wyoming big sagebrush was either the same or more successful compared to planting on the snow in the winter, which is the current suggested practice. Our results also demonstrated that seed conglomeration produced higher plant densities compared to control seed throughout the growing season. The higher density of plants produced from conglomerates combined with the improved seed delivery provided by the conglomeration technique was estimated to offset the cost in producing conglomerates and reduce overall restoration costs by 41%.

Understanding illness and health care in the ancient world, and especially within ancient Israel, is not an easy undertaking. Most of the research done on Israelite health care focuses on the identification of disease rather than their sociological implications. This study hypothesises that to truly understand ancient Israel’s thoughts on illness and health care it is important to take the wider social context, in which a sick person would have found himself, into account. This study analyses the illness of King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:11-23) against the backdrop of the ancient Near East’s understanding of illness and health care, Israel’s view of Yahweh’s role in illness, as well as the interwovenness between illness and the social values of honour and shame. The notions of purity and impurity and the role they played in Israel’s understanding of illness, as well as the role of the temple and other consultative options are also taken into account in the study. In so doing the study intends to shed some light on the interwovenness between illness and social values in ancient Israel and thus enabling a better understanding of 2 Chronicles 26:11-23 and illness and health care in ancient Israel. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Ancient Languages / unrestricted

This dissertation examines correlations between religiousness and spirituality, to moral orientations using moral foundations theory as a framework. Using the 2012 Measuring Morality dataset, which provides a representative sample of the population of the United States, I create linear regressions which test associations between religiousness, spirituality, and each of the five moral foundations ((harm/care, fairness, in-group loyalty, respect for authority, and purity). I find that religiousness is negatively associated with concern for harm, and positively associated with respect for authority, a finding which implies that the moral behavior of religious people is rooted in respect for authority more than in any other moral concern. Spirituality is positively associated with concern for fairness. The implications of all findings are discussed, as well as limitations and recommendations for future research.

My dissertation analyzes the status of mixed offspring in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple texts to understand the diverse ways children from intermarried couples were presented in pre-Mishnaic Jewish literature. Prior to the Mishnah (m. Qidd 3:12), there is no evidence of a monolithic ruling to regulate the status of mixed progeny. My goal, therefore, is to examine the different ways mixed offspring were treated, and to better understand whether they endured any social repercussions due to their mixed lineage. In turn, I explore the diverse ways Jewish identity was constructed in antiquity, and how matters like gender, lineage, and geography were used to establish social boundaries. Within contemporary scholarship, the study of mixed progeny in antiquity has been incidental to other research topics, including the expulsion narrative in Ezra 9–10, genealogical purity, and the matrilineal principle in Judaism. To date, no comprehensive approach has been undertaken to trace the status of mixed progeny in pre-Mishnaic Jewish literature. My dissertation seeks to fill this lacuna. Following a brief introduction in chapter 1, my subsequent chapters are divided into four time periods: the pre-Persian period (chapter 2); the Persian period (chapter 3); the Hellenistic period (chapter 4); and the early Roman period (chapter 5). Within each chapter, I analyze texts generally dated to those eras that include some information about mixed offspring. In my concluding chapter, I reveal three main factors that impacted the status of mixed progeny in antiquity: genealogy, residential location, and piety. I also provide a heuristic framework to categorize my findings of mixed offspring. While there were two main responses towards mixed progeny in antiquity (accepted or rejected), not every case fits nicely into these two classifications. Therefore, the treatment of mixed progeny must be understood on a spectrum to better appreciate the nuance within each text. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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