published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

The aim of the study was to investigate how Dalsland’s environmental office have managed the yearly reports on fluorinated greenhouse gasses and substances that deplete the ozone layer during the period 2007-2013. The environmental office’s methods, existing routines, present regulations and guidelines have been studied. The purpose of this report was to present suggestions on how the managing of these yearly reports can be improved, and to construct a document of guidelines for the environmental officers, that can be used to make the managing more efficient. The Environmental Office of Dalsland was established 1 January, 2007, when the municipalities of Bengtsfors, Dals Ed, Färgelanda and Mellerud merged their environmental offices together under a joint Environmental committee. The supervision concerning the yearly reports on fluorinated greenhouse gasses and substances that deplete the ozone layer, have varied and the organization within the environmental office have changed over time. There are areas where improvements are needed in order to insure that the auditing of the reports becomes more efficient. The operators should be offered more guidance and information about the current legislation and the demands these rules make on them. Internal routines need to be established on how to register the information that the reports contains, in order to make it easier to extract information for statistical purposes.

Uppsatsen undersöker orsaker till fenomenet girting, dvs olyckor där bogserbåtar dras ned och potentiellt kapsejsar vid bogsering av farkoster. Undersökningen utgår från 14 officiella haverirapporter om girtingsituationer världen över.  Med hjälp av modellen HFACS-MA kategoriseras olycksorsakerna i en orsakskedja för att utröna vilka kategorier som är mest frekvent förekommande i samtliga undersökta olyckor. Resultatet visar att dåligt förberedda bogseroperationer (med otillräcklig eller utebliven planering och riskbedömning), brister i organisationernas dokumentation (manualer, instruktioner och procedurer), samt bristande kommunikation mellan de inblandade parterna var de största faktorerna för girting. För att minska risken för girting har rekommendationer framtagits, som bl a innefattar vikten av att hålla dokumentation uppdaterad, hålla tydlig kommunikation mellan inblandade parter under bogseringsoperationer samt planera varje operation noggrant och ge alla inblandade möjlighet till återkoppling. / This essay studies the causes of girting, i.e. accidents where tugboats get pulled down and capsizes by the vessel it is towing. The study uses 14 official accident reports about girting accidents all over the world. The HFACS-MA model is used to categorize the causes of the accident into a causal chain, in order to find out which categories are most frequently present in the accident reports.  The result shows that poorly planned tow operations (with inadequate planning and/or risk assessment), deficiencies in the organization’s documentation (i.e. manuals, instructions and procedures), and poor communication between the involved parties were the most frequently found factors for girting. In order to reduce the risk of girting, recommendations have been made that includes the importance of keeping documents up to date, maintain clear communication between the parties involved during towing operations and to plan each operation thoroughly, giving everyone involved the opportunity for feedback regarding the plan.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most commonly diagnosed of child clinical syndromes and is associated with poor academic achievement, poor peer and family relations, and an elevated risk for anxiety, depression, and conduct disorder (Barkley ,1990; Barkley, Guevremont, Anastopoulos, DuPaul, & Shelton, 1993; Barkley, Murphy, & Kwasnik, 1996; Beiderman, Faraone, & Lapey, 1992; Fischer, Fischer, et al., 1990; Hinshaw, 1994; Nadeau 1995; Weiss & Hechtman, 1993). Although ADHD is one of the most commonly diagnosed and widely researched disorders, the diagnostic criteria and defining characteristics of ADHD remain controversial (Wolraich, 1999). The current diagnostic formulation, as specified by the DSM-IV-TR, includes three distinct subtypes: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder- Predominantly Hyperactive Impulsive Type (ADHD-H), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Predominantly Inattentive Type (ADHD-PI) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder- Combined Typed (ADHD-C). Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the current nosology is the inclusion of the inattention symptoms within the family of ADHD diagnoses (Milich, Balentine, Lynam, 2001). Researchers and clinicians have further posited that ADHD-PI represents a distinct disorder with two subtypes: inattentive-disorganized and sluggish cognitive tempo. This study explored the relation between reading fluency, sluggish cognitive tempo symptoms, disorganized symptoms, processing speed and ADHD diagnosis. This study examined performance of children diagnosed 77 children diagnosed with ADHD (i.e. 53 participants met criteria for ADHD-PI and 24 participants met criteria for ADHD-C) on measures of cognitive functioning, processing speed, behavioral reports, sluggish cognitive tempo, disorganization and reading fluency. Significant group differences did not emerge on measures of processing speed, sluggish cognitive tempo symptoms or disorganized symptoms. Path analysis was employed to examine the simultaneous effects of processing speed on inattention symptoms, hyperactive/impulsive symptoms, SCT symptoms, DO symptoms, reading fluency, and internalizing symptoms. In addition, the paths from SCT symptoms, DO symptoms, inattention symptoms, and hyperactive/impulsive symptoms to reading fluency and internalizing symptoms were also be examined. Processing speed had a significant direct effect on SCT symptoms, Inattention Symptoms and Reading Fluency. In addition, SCT symptoms had a significant direct effect on anxiety symptoms. In summary, findings from the study provide important information about the link between processing speed, attention written, and reading fluency. Limitations of the study and implications for future research and practice are discussed. / text

In this dissertation, the denaturalization of migrants in the US and Italy as represented in newspaper crime reports was identified and compared to the opposing naturalization of Italian crime organizations in Italy and Wall Street/ corporate criminals in the US. This was accomplished through careful, multidisciplinary, scientific analysis of over 100 articles taken from Italian and US newspapers of assorted political tendencies from the years 2004-2010. Quantitative and qualitative methods were combined beginning with a corpus analysis of texts from each group studied followed by a topic analysis designed to identify topics discussed in the media for each group analyzed. In addition, lexical choices were categorized as denaturalization, naturalization or derogation, and examples from texts were examined in depth to reveal linguistic (such as metaphor) strategies involved in negative or positive representation of these groups. A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach combined with Social Semiotics and grounded in Social Identity and Nationalism theories was employed to reveal an underlying racist and xenophobic ideology in both Italian and US media. Results show that in both the United States and Italy, the highlighting of migrants' lack of proficiency in the host country language as well as cultural practices functions as evidence of how migrants are different thus justifying discriminatory practices against them. The resulting categorization of migrants as "Them" serves the dominant group's purpose of staying in power. In conclusion, the author points to a need for teacher educators in the field of second language education and literacy to make it a top priority to educate teachers and students as to how discourse contains underlying ideologies and how to think critically to de-construct and de-mystify them.

Pre-sentence evaluations are commonly prepared by court clinics to assist the court in sentencing dispositions and plans for treatment of offenders. There is no standard policy in effect for advising a defendant of his legal rights prior to evaluation by a mental health professional for purposes of a pre-sentence report. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the effects that different types of briefing or warning statements may have upon clients in a court clinic. The present study systematically investigated two factors in briefings given before a pre-sentence evaluation. The first factor was the nonverbal communication of the person giving the briefing. The effects of these briefing manipulations were assessed in terms of client behavior and mental health evaluator's impression of the client. Specifically, these dependent variables were measured by MMPI scales L, K, and Pd, an Evaluation Rating Scale, a Briefing Questionnaire, a Psychopathology Rating Scale and a Nonverbal Behavior Record Form. A set of hypotheses was forwarded which predicted that these behavioral indices would vary as a result of changes in briefing procedure. Contrary to predictions, results indicated that the briefing procedures had no significant effect upon any of the measures of clients' behavior. While questionnaire data indicated that subjects were affected by the type of briefing immediately after the briefing was given, it appears that these effects were of very short duration. These findings are discussed with regard to the methodology of the present study and with regard to previous research concerned with Miranda warnings.

Web servisų galimybės geriausiai tinka e. Vyriausybės informacinių sistemų įgyvendinimui. Šiame darbe taikomi tinklo paslaugų architektūros (Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)) principai ir įvairūs standartai, naudojami e. Vyriausybės informacinių sistemų kūrimui, saugiam duomenų perdavimui, informacijos šifravimui. Paslaugų architektūra SOA (angl. Service Oriented Architecture) yra tokia programinės įrangos architektūra, kai vartotojai naudoja programinę įrangą kaip paslaugą, kuri pasiekiama tinkle per realizaciją slepiančius interfeisus. SOA grindžiama visuotinai priimtais de facto standartais, kurie padeda palaikyti vartotojams reikalingus veiklos procesus, susidedančius iš laisvai susietų (angl. loosely coupled) paslaugų. Į vartotoją sutelktas paslaugų vaizdas yra pagrindinė idėja, skirianti paslaugas nuo objektinės orientacijos. Paslaugų informacinės sistemos (angl. Service-oriented Information Systems) sudarytos iš laisvai susietų junglių (angl. Interoperable) paslaugų, kurias valdo vartotojų reikalavimai. Norint veiksmingai projektuoti paslaugas, reikia šiek tiek kitaip modeliuoti: daugiau dėmesio skirti veiklos tikslams, kurti tikslesnius modelius, labiau automatizuoti kūrimo procesą. Pagrindiniai paslaugų elgsenos modeliai yra sąveikos ir būsenų mašinos, pagrindiniai statiniai paslaugų IS modelių elementai yra dalykinės srities duomenų esybės, paslaugų interfeisai ir pranešimai, kuriais keičiasi veiklos dalyviai. Naudojant visas šias technologijas buvo siekiama... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Government in every country wants to enhance the quality of their services provided for citizens and business enterprises. However, due to the lack of interoperability, traditional governments and municipalities face serious problems. These are mainly poor quality and high cost of services, and low economical revenues. Lithuania e-government has been proposed for solving these problems by making the interaction between government and citizens (G2C), government and business enterprises (G2B), and inter-agency relationships (G2G) more friendly, convenient, transparent, and inexpensive. E-government unifies different software solutions to provide country citizens and business enterprises easier way to communicate with their government. Web services provide interoperability for different types of applications, and this technology fits very well for developing e-government applications. This document summarizes the development of pension fund G2B software solution which should provide effective and reliable way for Lithuanian Republic Committee of Securities and pension fund governing enterprises to interchange various reports.

The aim of this research is to examine the determinants of the level of corporate risk disclosure (CRD) in the interim reports of Swedish non-financial companies. A quantitative research approach is used, the sample data of which consist of 166 firms with 4,849 interim reports over a 10-year period. By utilizing the notion of risk and its definition, I have distinguished three categories of risk, namely risk as uncertainty, risk as threat and risk as opportunity. A systematic content analysis is conducted with the use of a software program, which is specifically designed for this purpose. The number of sentences that contain keywords related to the three risk categories is counted as the total CRD score, which is transformed to the disclosure index. I have examined the impact of firms’ characteristics and corporate governance mechanisms on the level of CRD based on agency theory. The ordinary least squares regression method with  control for fixed year effects is used to analyse the data, which show that firm size and audit committee have a positive relationship with the level of corporate risk disclosure. The result demonstrates also that there is a negative relationship between family ownership and the level of CRD, and an insignificant relationship between leverage and the level of CRD.

Motivation - Steigende Produkt- und Prozessanforderungen bei gleichzeitig verkürzten Entwicklungszeiten - Verstärkter Einsatz von Finite-Elemente-Analysen (FEA) in der Produktentwicklung notwendig - Erforderliches Expertenwissen jedoch hauptsächlich auf erfahrenen Berechnungsingenieure konzentriert - Konsturktionsbgleitende FEA bisher zu selten durchgeführt oder zu wenig aussagekräftig

The purpose of the present study is to compare two forms of home project reports and to determine the preferred form.