The reconstruction of social meaning in the space of flows

Artikkeli on alunperin julkaistu teoksessa: The informational city (1989) / Manuel Castells

Effects of group size and space allocation on physiological, behavioural and production-related welfare parameters in farmed silver fox cubs

Selostus: Ryhmäkoon ja käytössä olevan tilan vaikutus tarhattujen hopeakettupentujen hyvinvointiin

Individual Perception of Organizational Values

The objective of this master’s thesis was to examine how corporate values come true among the white-collar employees in the case organization. It was also studied if values were perceived similarly in the different departments. Impact of organizational position and education on value orientation was tested through hypotheses based on earlier values research. There are only few value scales available for measuring organizational values. The empirical study results indicate that personnel’s perception of organizational values can be measured statistically. When defining the scale it is utmost important to link the questions and claims close to the employees’ daily working environment. In this study, Work ethic appeared as the strongest organizational value reflecting respondents’ commitment to their duties. Related to corporate values, Performance was perceived as the strongest value and Emphasis on people the weakest. Value consensus between the departments varied. According to the previous research organizational position and educational level has an impact on value perceptions. In this study, employees in superior position or with higher education perceived organizational values to come true better than subordinates or employees with lower education. Empirical data (N=229) was collected by a web-based survey questionnaire among white-collar employees in the case organization in April 2008. Statistical analyses were performed by SPSS programme.

Role of Selected Spectral Attributes in the Perception of Synthetic Vowels

This thesis is an experimental study regarding the identification and discrimination of vowels, studied using synthetic stimuli. The acoustic attributes of synthetic stimuli vary, which raises the question of how different spectral attributes are linked to the behaviour of the subjects. The spectral attributes used are formants and spectral moments (centre of gravity, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis). Two types of experiments are used, related to the identification and discrimination of the stimuli, respectively. The discrimination is studied by using both the attentive procedures that require a response from the subject, and the preattentive procedures that require no response. Together, the studies offer information about the identification and discrimination of synthetic vowels in 15 different languages. Furthermore, this thesis discusses the role of various spectral attributes in the speech perception processes. The thesis is divided into three studies. The first is based only on attentive methods, whereas the other two concentrate on the relationship between identification and discrimination experiments. The neurophysiological methods (EEG recordings) reveal the role of attention in processing, and are used in discrimination experiments, while the results reveal differences in perceptual processes based on the language, attention and experimental procedure.

Brain Dopamine and Serotonin Receptors in the Perception of Pain. Positron Emission Tomography Studies in Healthy Subjects

The role of dopamine and serotonin in spinal pain regulation is well established. However, little is known concerning the role of brain dopamine and serotonin in the perception of pain in humans. The aim of this study was to assess the potential role of brain dopamine and serotonin in determining experimental pain sensitivity in humans using positron emission tomography (PET) and psychophysical methods. A total of 39 healthy subjects participated in the study, and PET imaging was performed to assess brain dopamine D2/D3 and serotonin 5-HT_1A receptor availability. In a separate session, sensitivity to pain and touch was assessed with traditional psychophysical methods, allowing the evaluation of potential associations between D2/D3 and 5-HT_1A binding and psychophysical responses. The subjects’ responses were also analyzed according to Signal Detection Theory, which enables separate assessment of the subject’s discriminative capacity (sensory factor) and response criterion (non-sensory factor). The study found that the D2/D3 receptor binding in the right putamen was inversely correlated with pain threshold and response criterion. 5-HT_1A binding in cingulate cortex, inferior temporal gyrus and medial prefrontal cortex was inversely correlated with discriminative capacity for touch. Additionally, the response criterion for pain and intensity rating of suprathreshold pain were inversely correlated with 5-HT_1A binding in multiple brain areas. The results suggest that brain D2/D3 receptors and 5-HT_1A receptors modulate sensitivity to pain and that the pain modulatory effects may, at least partly, be attributed to influences on the response criterion. 5-HT_1A receptors are also involved in the regulation of touch by having an effect on discriminative capacity.

Lärande som text : en dramapedagogiskt förankrad läsning av det kroppsliga, rumsliga och retoriska i kunskapsbildande processer

My presupposition, that learning at some level deals with life praxis, is expressed in four metaphors: space, time, fable and figure. Relations between learning,knowledge building and meaning making are linked to the concept of personal knowledge. I present a two part study of learning as text in a drama pedagogical rooted reading where learning is framed as the ongoing event, and knowledge, as the product of previous processes, is framed as culturally formed utterances. A frame analysis model is constructed as a topological guide for relations between the two concepts learning and knowledge. It visualises an aesthetic understanding, rooted in drama pedagogical comprehension. Insight and perception are linked in an inner relationship that is neither external nor identical. This understanding expresses the movement "in between" connecting asymmetrical and nonlinear features of human endeavour and societal issues. The performability of bodily and oral participation in the learning event in a socio-cultural setting is analysed as a dialogised text. In an ethnographical case study I have gathered material with an interest for the particular. The empirical material is based on three problem based learning situations in a Polytechnic setting. The act of transformation in the polyphony of the event is considered as a turning point in the narrative employment. Negotiation and figuration in the situation form patterns of the space for improvisation (flow) and tensions at the boundaries (thresholds) which imply the logical structure of transformation. Learning as a dialogised text of "yes" and "no", of structure and play for the improvised, interrelate in that movement. It is related to both the syntagmic and the paradigmatic forms of thinking. In the philosophical study, forms of understanding are linked to the logical structure of transformation as a cultural issue. The classical rhetorical concepts of Logos, Pathos, Ethos and Mythos are connected to the multidimensional rationality of the human being. In the Aristotelian form of knowledge, phronesis,a logic structure of inquiry is recognised. The shifting of perspectives between approaches, the construction of knowledge as context and the human project of meaning making as a subtext, illuminates multiple layers of the learning text. In an argumentation that post-modern apprehension of knowledge, emphasising contextual and situational values, has an empowering impact on learning, I find pedagogical benefits. The dialogical perspective has opened lenses that manage to hold in aesthetic doubling the individual action of inquiry and the stage with its cultural tools in a three dimensional reading.

Contextualizing entrepreneurial intentions : a multiple case study on entrepreneurial cognition and perception

Avhandlingen behandlar entreprenöriella intentioner och individens uppfattningar om entreprenörskap. Om vi vill främja entreprenörskap så räcker det inte att vi förstår vilken nytta samhället kan ha av entreprenörer (arbetsplatser, mera skatteinkomster osv.). Vi måste förstå varför entreprenörskap är intressant och attraktiv ur individens synvinkel. Just den frågan har varit central inom kognitiv entreprenörskapsforskning de senaste 10 åren har vår förståelse för entreprenörer ökat betydligt tack vare den forskningen. Problemet med existerande forskning är att uppfattad genomförbarhet och uppfattad attraktivitet, dvs. de attityder som sägs leda till entreprenöriella intentioner, beskriver enbart vilken attityd individen generellt har till entreprenörskap. Enligt tidigare forskningsresultat så är det skillnad på generella attityder till en handling och attityder till att genomföra just den handlingen. Vill vi veta om individen kan tänka sig starta och driva ett företag så måste vi alltså studera individens attityd till att utföra just den specifika handlingen. Enligt avhandlingens forskningsresultat så kan vi lära oss mera om attityder till entreprenörskap genom att studera också motivation och mål. På så sätt kan vi förstå varför en del väljer att bli entreprenörer medan andra väljer att låta bli, även om de utåt sett har samma möjligheter att bli entreprenörer.

Lifelong learning travels : single actors´ perception and talk of lifelong learning in a specific organizational context

I mars 2003 certifierades en finländsk advokatbyrå av den Europeiska kommissionen som den bästa i Europa inom specialkategorin livslångt lärande. Advokatbyrån var överraskad över utnämningen emedan de inte aktivt och/eller medvetet implementerat eller utövat en livslångt lärandestrategi i sin verksamhet bland sin personal. Byrån deltog i en tävling om bästa arbetsplats i Europa ("Best workplaces in Europe 2003") utan att vara medveten om den Europeiska kommissionens special- kategorier. Emedan advokatbyrån inte medvetet implementerat en livslångt lärandestrategi bland sin personal formar aktörerna, vars uppfattning och prat denna avhandling handlar om, sina föreställningar och sitt prat om livslångt lärande efter utnämningen. Översättningsprocessen av en idé utlöses sålunda i denna studie av en extern händelse. I sin avhandling beskriver Annica Isacsson hur och varför en idé (livslångt lärande) föds (på nytt) på en institutionell nivå, hur idén reser och förändras i en process av översättning, hur idén landar i två organisationer samt hur idén om livslångt lärande uppfattas och beskrivs av lokala aktörer i två olika organisationer. Fokus i studien ligger sålunda på enskilda aktörers uppfattning om ett kontroversiellt koncept i en lokal kontext. Teoretiskt möts och sammanlänkas teori om livslångt lärande, sociokulturella teorier om lärande och teorier om organisatoriskt lärande. Isacssons avhandling visar på hur livslångt lärande inte enbart, i en organisatorisk kontext, handlar om individuell kompetensutveckling utan också om organisatoriskt lärande i vilken lärande av andra organisationsmedlemmar och organisationer ingår. Studien visar vidare på hur enskilda aktörers prat påverkas av det institutionella fältet och av den tidsanda inom vilken diskursen livslångt lärande föds, rör sig och ingår.