Dialogue in the crisis of representation : realism and antirealism in the context of the conversation between theologians and quantum physicists in Göttingen 1949-1961

The aim of this study is to analyse the content of the interdisciplinary conversations in Göttingen between 1949 and 1961. The task is to compare models for describing reality presented by quantum physicists and theologians. Descriptions of reality indifferent disciplines are conditioned by the development of the concept of reality in philosophy, physics and theology. Our basic problem is stated in the question: How is it possible for the intramental image to match the external object?Cartesian knowledge presupposes clear and distinct ideas in the mind prior to observation resulting in a true correspondence between the observed object and the cogitative observing subject. The Kantian synthesis between rationalism and empiricism emphasises an extended character of representation. The human mind is not a passive receiver of external information, but is actively construing intramental representations of external reality in the epistemological process. Heidegger's aim was to reach a more primordial mode of understanding reality than what is possible in the Cartesian Subject-Object distinction. In Heidegger's philosophy, ontology as being-in-the-world is prior to knowledge concerning being. Ontology can be grasped only in the totality of being (Dasein), not only as an object of reflection and perception. According to Bohr, quantum mechanics introduces an irreducible loss in representation, which classically understood is a deficiency in knowledge. The conflicting aspects (particle and wave pictures) in our comprehension of physical reality, cannot be completely accommodated into an entire and coherent model of reality. What Bohr rejects is not realism, but the classical Einsteinian version of it. By the use of complementary descriptions, Bohr tries to save a fundamentally realistic position. The fundamental question in Barthian theology is the problem of God as an object of theological discourse. Dialectics is Barth¿s way to express knowledge of God avoiding a speculative theology and a human-centred religious self-consciousness. In Barthian theology, the human capacity for knowledge, independently of revelation, is insufficient to comprehend the being of God. Our knowledge of God is real knowledge in revelation and our words are made to correspond with the divine reality in an analogy of faith. The point of the Bultmannian demythologising programme was to claim the real existence of God beyond our faculties. We cannot simply define God as a human ideal of existence or a focus of values. The theological programme of Bultmann emphasised the notion that we can talk meaningfully of God only insofar as we have existential experience of his intervention. Common to all these twentieth century philosophical, physical and theological positions, is a form of anti-Cartesianism. Consequently, in regard to their epistemology, they can be labelled antirealist. This common insight also made it possible to find a common meeting point between the different disciplines. In this study, the different standpoints from all three areas and the conversations in Göttingen are analysed in the frameworkof realism/antirealism. One of the first tasks in the Göttingen conversations was to analyse the nature of the likeness between the complementary structures inquantum physics introduced by Niels Bohr and the dialectical forms in the Barthian doctrine of God. The reaction against epistemological Cartesianism, metaphysics of substance and deterministic description of reality was the common point of departure for theologians and physicists in the Göttingen discussions. In his complementarity, Bohr anticipated the crossing of traditional epistemic boundaries and the generalisation of epistemological strategies by introducing interpretative procedures across various disciplines.

Political participation beyond the vote : how the institutional context shapes patterns of political participation in 18 Western European democracies

Politiskt deltagande är en definierande del av varje demokratiskt politiskt system, även mellan valen. Men det har skett en betydande utveckling i vilka aktiviteter som uppfattas som politiskt deltagande. Det är inte enbart aktiviteter i politiska partier som är i fokus, men också olika protestaktiviteter, delaktighet i nya sociala rörelser och livsstilspolitik i form av politisk konsumtion. Politiskt deltagande mellan valen kan leda till en potentiell legitimitetskonflikt. Den potentiella konflikten mellan ansvarsutkrävande och medborgarnas aktiva medverkan har varit känd sedan länge. Representativa demokratier har genom olika institutionella mekanismer försökt konstruera ett fungerande politiskt system som förenar möjligheten för politiskt deltagande med en tydlig ansvarsstruktur. I detta sammanhang har den institutionella öppenheten haft en central position eftersom denna antas påverka hur lätt det är för medborgarna att påverka de formella beslutfattarna. Avhandlingen undersöker därmed konsekvenserna av institutionell öppenhet för olika former av politiskt deltagande. Resultaten tyder på att demokratiska staters institutionella uppbyggnad har väsentliga konsekvenser för det politiska deltagandet. Men samspelet mellan systemet och deltagandet verkar vara mera invecklat än de dominerande teorierna om politiska institutioner och deltagande ger vid handen. Institutionell öppenhet har inte den förväntade effekt beroende på om den politiska handlingen sker inom eller utanför det formella systemet, och den institutionella effekten är mera uttalad för föreningsaktivism och politisk konsumtion, vilket är de aktiviteter som ligger längst bort från det formella politiska systemet. Resultaten utmanar därmed centrala teoretiska antaganden inom forskningen om politiskt deltagande. I ljuset av de resultat som presenteras i avhandlingen framstår det som särskilt angeläget att omvärdera effekten av institutionell öppenhet.

The role of business information and knowledge in sales steering

The objective of this study is to find out how sales management can be optimally supported with business information and knowledge. The first chapters of the study focus on theoretical literature about sales planning, sales steering, business intelligence, and knowledge management. The empirical part of the study is a case study for which the material was collected through interviews with the selected people of the company. The findings from the interviews were analyzed, and possible suggestions for solving the problems were made. The case study revealed that sales management requires a multitude of metrics and reports to steer the sales to the desired direction. The information sources can be internal and external, and the optimal solution for satisfying the information needs is a combination of both of these. The simple information should be turned into knowledge by merging the intellectual assets with the information from the firm’s transaction processing systems, in order to promote organizational learning and effective decision-making.

The case of web based information environment in web based weight management services

Abstrakti

Reflexive Space. A Constructionist Model of the Russian Reflexive Marker

This study examines the structure of the Russian Reflexive Marker ( ся/-сь) and offers a usage-based model building on Construction Grammar and a probabilistic view of linguistic structure. Traditionally, reflexive verbs are accounted for relative to non-reflexive verbs. These accounts assume that linguistic structures emerge as pairs. Furthermore, these accounts assume directionality where the semantics and structure of a reflexive verb can be derived from the non-reflexive verb. However, this directionality does not necessarily hold diachronically. Additionally, the semantics and the patterns associated with a particular reflexive verb are not always shared with the non-reflexive verb. Thus, a model is proposed that can accommodate the traditional pairs as well as for the possible deviations without postulating different systems. A random sample of 2000 instances marked with the Reflexive Marker was extracted from the Russian National Corpus and the sample used in this study contains 819 unique reflexive verbs. This study moves away from the traditional pair account and introduces the concept of Neighbor Verb. A neighbor verb exists for a reflexive verb if they share the same phonological form excluding the Reflexive Marker. It is claimed here that the Reflexive Marker constitutes a system in Russian and the relation between the reflexive and neighbor verbs constitutes a cross-paradigmatic relation. Furthermore, the relation between the reflexive and the neighbor verb is argued to be of symbolic connectivity rather than directionality. Effectively, the relation holding between particular instantiations can vary. The theoretical basis of the present study builds on this assumption. Several new variables are examined in order to systematically model variability of this symbolic connectivity, specifically the degree and strength of connectivity between items. In usage-based models, the lexicon does not constitute an unstructured list of items. Instead, items are assumed to be interconnected in a network. This interconnectedness is defined as Neighborhood in this study. Additionally, each verb carves its own niche within the Neighborhood and this interconnectedness is modeled through rhyme verbs constituting the degree of connectivity of a particular verb in the lexicon. The second component of the degree of connectivity concerns the status of a particular verb relative to its rhyme verbs. The connectivity within the neighborhood of a particular verb varies and this variability is quantified by using the Levenshtein distance. The second property of the lexical network is the strength of connectivity between items. Frequency of use has been one of the primary variables in functional linguistics used to probe this. In addition, a new variable called Constructional Entropy is introduced in this study building on information theory. It is a quantification of the amount of information carried by a particular reflexive verb in one or more argument constructions. The results of the lexical connectivity indicate that the reflexive verbs have statistically greater neighborhood distances than the neighbor verbs. This distributional property can be used to motivate the traditional observation that the reflexive verbs tend to have idiosyncratic properties. A set of argument constructions, generalizations over usage patterns, are proposed for the reflexive verbs in this study. In addition to the variables associated with the lexical connectivity, a number of variables proposed in the literature are explored and used as predictors in the model. The second part of this study introduces the use of a machine learning algorithm called Random Forests. The performance of the model indicates that it is capable, up to a degree, of disambiguating the proposed argument construction types of the Russian Reflexive Marker. Additionally, a global ranking of the predictors used in the model is offered. Finally, most construction grammars assume that argument construction form a network structure. A new method is proposed that establishes generalization over the argument constructions referred to as Linking Construction. In sum, this study explores the structural properties of the Russian Reflexive Marker and a new model is set forth that can accommodate both the traditional pairs and potential deviations from it in a principled manner.

Exploring the value creation in service ecosystem context: the case of the information technology sector

This thesis examines customer value creation in a service ecosystem context. The objective of this thesis is to develop a comprehensive view of value creation processes in a service ecosystem context and an understanding on the roles of the stakeholders involved in these processes, focusing on the information technology industry. The novelty of the two central concepts of this thesis, systemic customer value and service ecosystem, as well as the gap in the literature of empirical research on value creation in an ecosystem-level, opened an interesting research topic. The empirical study is conducted as a single case analysis, utilizing Group Decision Support System (GDSS) and also Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The findings suggest that customer value is created by a complex combination of interactions among different actors of the ecosystem. Thus, value is not created by a single offering directed to the customer, but by an integration of services from different parts of the ecosystem as well as the active participation of customer in this process.

Memory Effects in the Dynamics of Open Quantum Systems

In this Thesis various aspects of memory effects in the dynamics of open quantum systems are studied. We develop a general theoretical framework for open quantum systems beyond the Markov approximation which allows us to investigate different sources of memory effects and to develop methods for harnessing them in order to realise controllable open quantum systems. In the first part of the Thesis a characterisation of non-Markovian dynamics in terms of information flow is developed and applied to study different sources of memory effects. Namely, we study nonlocal memory effects which arise due to initial correlations between two local environments and further the memory effects induced by initial correlations between the open system and the environment. The last part focuses on describing two all-optical experiment in which through selective preparation of the initial environment states the information flow between the system and the environment can be controlled. In the first experiment the system is driven from the Markovian to the non- Markovian regime and the degree of non-Markovianity is determined. In the second experiment we observe the nonlocal nature of the memory effects and provide a novel method to experimentally quantify frequency correlations in photonic environments via polarisation measurements.

Additional information about a mange outbreak by Allopsoroptoides galli (Acari: Psoroptoididae) in commercial laying hens in the state of São Paulo, Brazil

This paper reports additional information about a mange outbreak by the mite Allopsoroptoides galli in a commercial egg-laying hen facility in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. About half of the 76,000 multi-age birds of the flock were affected. Experimental infestations carried out on naive hens resulted in clinical signs similar to those diagnosed in naturally infested hens, such as generalized scaly dermatitis, presence of mucus-like material and yellowish crusts on the skin and around the calami, feather loss and strong unpleasant odor. About 30% drop of egg production was estimated. The possible source of infestation were wild birds identified on the ground and roofs of the sheds.

Maritime safety in the Gulf of Finland. Evaluation of the regulatory system

Growing traffic is believed to increase the risk of an accident in the Gulf of Finland. As the consequences of a large oil accident would be devastating in the vulnerable sea area, accident prevention is performed at the international, regional and national levels. Activities of shipping companies are governed with maritime safety policy instruments, which can be categorised into regulatory, economic and information instruments. The maritime regulatory system has been criticised for being inefficient because it has not been able to eliminate the violations that enable accidents. This report aims to discover how maritime governance systems or maritime safety policy instruments could be made more efficient in the future, in order to improve the maritime safety level. The results of the research are based on a literature review and nine expert interviews, with participants from shipping companies, interest groups and authorities. Based on the literature and the interviews, a suggestion can be made that in the future, instead of implementing new policy instruments, maritime safety risks should be eliminated by making the existing system more efficient and by influencing shipping companies’ safety culture and seafarers’ safety related attitudes. Based on this research, it can be stated that the development of maritime safety policy instruments should concentrate on harmonisation, automation and increasing national and cross-border cooperation. These three tasks could be primarily accomplished by developing the existing technology. Human error plays a role in a significant number of maritime accidents. Because of this, improving companies’ safety culture and voluntary activities that go beyond laws are acknowledged as potential ways of improving maritime safety. In the future, maritime regulatory system should be developed into a direction where the private sector has better possibilities to take part in decision-making.

Association between Information and Communication Technology Usage and the Quality of Sleep among School-Aged Children during a School Week

ilm OKM 2013

Open Environmental Information Upon Disclosure Request in China: The Paradox of Legal Mobilization

Taking a realist view that law is one form of politics, this dissertation studies the roles of citizens and organizations in mobilizing the law to request government agencies to disclose environmental information in China, and during this process, how the socio-legal field interacts with the political-legal sphere, and what changes have been brought about during their interactions. This work takes a socio-legal approach and applies methodologies of social science and legal analysis. It aims to understand the paradox of why and how citizens and entities have been invoking the law to access environmental information despite the fact that various obstacles exist and the effectiveness of the new mechanism of environmental information disclosure still remains low. The study is largely based on the 28 cases and eight surveys of environmental information disclosure requests collected by the author. The cases and surveys analysed in this dissertation all occurred between May 2008, when the OGI Regulations and the OEI Measures came into effect, and August 2012 when the case collection was completed. The findings of this study have shown that by invoking the rules of law made by the authorities to demand government agencies disclosing environmental information, the public, including citizens, organizations, law firms, and the media, have strategically created a repercussive pressure upon the authorities to act according to the law. While it is a top-down process that has established the mechanism of open government information in China, it is indeed the bottom-up activism of the public that makes it work. Citizens and organizations’ use of legal tactics to push government agencies to disclose environmental information have formed not only an end of accessing the information but more a means of making government agencies accountable to their legal obligations. Law has thus played a pivotal role in enabling citizen participation in the political process. Against the current situation in China that political campaigns, or politicization, from general election to collective actions, especially contentious actions, are still restrained or even repressed by the government, legal mobilization, or judicialization, that citizens and organizations use legal tactics to demand their rights and push government agencies to enforce the law, become de facto an alternative of political participation. During this process, legal actions have helped to strengthen the civil society, make government agencies act according to law, push back the political boundaries, and induce changes in the relationship between the state and the public. In the field of environmental information disclosure, citizens and organizations have formed a bottom-up social activism, though limited in scope, using the language of law, creating progressive social, legal and political changes. This study emphasizes that it is partial and incomplete to understand China’s transition only from the top-down policy-making and government administration; it is also important to observe it from the bottom-up perspective that in a realistic view law can be part of politics and legal mobilization, even when utterly apolitical, can help to achieve political aims as well. This study of legal mobilization in the field of environmental information disclosure also helps us to better understand the function of law: law is not only a tool for the authorities to regulate and control, but inevitably also a weapon for the public to demand government agencies to work towards their obligations stipulated by the laws issued by themselves.

In search of information systems value : a case study of the EHR benefits realisation efforts of three Swedish hospitals.

The Swedish public health care organisation could very well be undergoing its most significant change since its specialisation during the late 19th and early 20th century. At the heart of this change is a move from using manual patient journals to electronic health records (EHR). EHR are complex integrated organisational wide information systems (IS) that promise great benefits and value as well as presenting great challenges to the organisation. The Swedish public health care is not the first organisation to implement integrated IS, and by no means alone in their quest for realising the potential benefits and value that it has to offer. As organisations invest in IS they embark on a journey of value-creation and capture. A journey where a costbased approach towards their IS-investments is replaced with a value-centric focus, and where the main challenges lie in the practical day-to-day task of finding ways to intertwine technology, people and business processes. This has however proven to be a problematic task. The problematic situation arises from a shift of perspective regarding how to manage IS in order to gain value. This is a shift from technology delivery to benefits delivery; from an ISimplementation plan to a change management plan. The shift gives rise to challenges related to the inability of IS and the elusiveness of value. As a response to these challenges the field of IS-benefits management has emerged offering a framework and a process in order to better understand and formalise benefits realisation activities. In this thesis the benefits realisation efforts of three Swedish hospitals within the same county council are studied. The thesis focuses on the participants of benefits analysis projects; their perceptions, judgments, negotiations and descriptions of potential benefits. The purpose is to address the process where organisations seek to identify which potential IS-benefits to pursue and realise, this in order to better understand what affects the process, so that realisation actions of potential IS-benefits could be supported. A qualitative case study research design is adopted and provides a framework for sample selection, data collection, and data analysis. It also provides a framework for discussions of validity, reliability and generalizability. Findings displayed a benefits fluctuation, which showed that participants’ perception of what constituted potential benefits and value changed throughout the formal benefits management process. Issues like structure, knowledge, expectation and experience affected perception differently, and this in the end changed the amount and composition of potential benefits and value. Five dimensions of benefits judgment were identified and used by participants when finding accommodations of potential benefits and value to pursue. Identified dimensions affected participants’ perceptions, which in turn affected the amount and composition of potential benefits. During the formal benefits management process participants shifted between judgment dimensions. These movements emerged through debates and interactions between participants. Judgments based on what was perceived as expected due to one’s role and perceived best for the organisation as a whole were the two dominant benefits judgment dimensions. A benefits negotiation was identified. Negotiations were divided into two main categories, rational and irrational, depending on participants’ drive when initiating and participating in negotiations. In each category three different types of negotiations were identified having different characteristics and generating different outcomes. There was also a benefits negotiation process identified that displayed management challenges corresponding to its five phases. A discrepancy was also found between how IS-benefits are spoken of and how actions of IS benefits realisation are understood. This was a discrepancy between an evaluation and a realisation focus towards IS value creation. An evaluation focus described IS-benefits as well-defined and measurable effects and a realisation focus spoke of establishing and managing an on-going place of value creation. The notion of valuescape was introduced in order to describe and support the understanding of IS value creation. Valuescape corresponded to a realisation focus and outlined a value configuration consisting of activities, logic, structure, drivers and role of IS.

New and Emerging Challenges of the ICT-Mediated Health and Well-Being Services

This monograph dissertation looks into the field of ICT-mediated health and well-being services. Through six chapters that extend the work done in the reviewed and published articles, the dissertation focuses on new and emerging technologies, and to impact of their use on the beneficiary; the individual who eventually derives advantage from the services. As the field is currently going through major changes particularly in the OECD countries, the focus is on shortterm developments in the field and the analysis on the long term developments is cursory by nature. The dissertation includes theoretical and empirical elements. Most of the empirical elements are linked to product development and conceptualization performed in the national MyWellbeing project that ended in 2010. In the project, the emphasis was on conceptualization of a personal aid for the beneficiary that could be used for managing information and services in the field of health and well-being services. This work continued the theme of developing individual-centric solutions for the field; a work that started in the InnoElli Senior program in 2006. The nature of this thesis is foremost a conceptual elaboration based on a literature review, illustrated in empirical work performed in different projects. As a theoretical contribution, this dissertation elaborates the role of a mediator, i.e. an intermediary, and it is used as an overarching theme. The role acts as a ‘lens’ through which a number of technology-related phenomena are looked at, pinned down and addressed to a degree. This includes introduction of solutions, ranging from anthropomorphic artefacts to decision support systems that may change the way individuals experience clinical encounters in the near-future. Due to the complex and multiform nature of the field, it is impractical and effectively impossible to cover all aspects that are related to mediation in a single work. Issues such as legislation, financing and privacy are all of equal importance. Consideration of all these issues is beyond the scope of this dissertation and their investigation is left to other work. It follows from this that the investigation on the role is not intended as inclusive one. The role of the mediator is also used to highlight some of the ethical issues related to personal health information management, and to mediating health and well-being related issues on behalf of another individual, such as an elderly relative or a fellow member of a small unit in the armed forces. The dissertation concludes in a summary about the use and functions of the mediator, describing some potential avenues for implementing such support mechanisms to the changing field of ICT-mediated health and well-being services. The conclusions also describe some of the limitations of this dissertation, including remarks on methodology and content.