Journal Staff

Bakgrund I dagens samhälle finns det en uppfattning om manlighet och vad det innebär att vara man. Att äta kött har kommit att kopplas samman med manlighet och styrka, och forskning visar att mäns beteende- och konsumtionsmönster påverkas av vad som anses förstärka den upplevda manligheten. Det är därför intressant att undersöka varför vissa män aktivt väljer bort kött i sin kosthållning. Syfte Syftet med studien var att med hjälp av intervjuer utforska och förstå hur nuvarande samhällsnormer påverkar män som aktivt valt bort kött och/eller animaliska produkter. Metod Studien utfördes med kvalitativ forskningsmetod, där sex individuella intervjuer genomfördes. Resultaten analyserades sedan med kvalitativ innehållsanalys enligt Graneheim och Lundman. Resultat Samtliga informanter hade upplevt en samhällsnorm som innebar att de förväntades att äta kött. De menade att denna norm påverkade dem då deras normbrytande ofta innebar att de blev ifrågasatta. Det framkom under intervjuerna att informanterna även ansåg det finnas en koppling mellan kostval och könsroller. De upplevde att kött och manlighet har en stark korrelation och majoriteten ansåg att vissa kostmönster var mer relaterade till kvinnlighet. Slutsats Det finns en köttnorm i dagens samhälle som påverkar de män som valt en vegetarisk kost/vegankost. Denna norm kan upplevas starkt etablerad, och det är därför viktigt att vara medveten om den och dess inverkan.Background In society today, there is an idea of manliness and what it means to be a man. Meat has come to be associated with masculinity and strength, and research shows that the behavioral and consumption patterns of men are influenced by what they consider to enhance their perceived masculinity. It is therefore interesting to examine why certain men actively choose to exclude meat from their diet, regardless of potential pressures. Objective The objective of this study was to, with the use of interviews, explore and understand how current societal norms affect men who actively excluded meat and/or animal products. Method The study was executed as qualitative research, where six individual interviews were carried out. The results were later analyzed according to qualitative content analysis by Graneheim and Lundman. Results All of the informants had experienced a societal norm that expected them to eat meat. They meant that this norm affected them, since they often found themselves being questioned. The analysis showed that the informants felt that there was a connection between food choices and gender roles. They experienced that meat and masculinity had a strong correlation and the majority considered some dietary patterns exclusively related to femininity. Conclusion There is a “meat-eating norm” in today’s society that affects men who have chosen a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. This norm could be considered quite established, and it is therefore important to be aware of it and its influence

Scales of Energy Justice: Solar power and energy poverty alleviation

The threats climate change poses require rapid and wide decarbonization efforts in the energy sector. Historically, traditional, large-scale energy operations have frequently led to energy-related injustices. Energy poverty is one such injustice that has gained attention as an important issue to address within low-carbon energy transitions. Energy poverty (the condition of being unable to access an adequate level of household energy services) persists despite the existence of renewable energy technologies, such as solar photovoltaics (PV), which offer cheap, clean, and highly scalable energy. Historical injustices and the modularity of solar PV offers new possibilities in ownership, production and distribution of energy and calls into question the traditional scalar approach to energy operations. This thesis reports on a case study of solar power in Lisbon, Portugal. It investigates the potential of solar PV to alleviate energy poverty and the role of scale in energy justice in relation to renewable energy transformations. The case consists of eight weeks of field work which generated insights on community and expert perspectives. Methods used in the field are non-attribution, semi-structured interviews, and field observations. Secondary research methods included deskwork and document analysis. Interviews were analyzed using the qualitative data analysis program NVivo and through comparison to relevant grey and academic literature. I used an energy justice framework to identify and discuss justice aspects of solar PV uptake at different scales. Results indicate that energy justice is shaped in diverse ways at different scales, and that scale matters for energy justice. The Lisbon case illustrates how small- and medium-scale approaches to energy distribution can address energy justice concerns. The study finds that such approaches are gaining attention and legitimacy, but do not yet include all socio-economic groups. It moreover shows how large-scale approaches to energy are potentially well-equipped to make renewable technologies, such as solar PV, widely accessible.Master's Thesis in GeographyGEO350MASV-PHYGMASV-MEHAMASV-GEOGMPGEOG

Design of robust broadband beamformers with discrete coefficients and least squared criterion

This brief investigates the performance of robust and nonrobust broadband beamformers with least squares and discrete coefficients to achieve low complexity and efficient hardware implementation. The broadband beamformer coefficients are expressed as the sum of power-of-two terms with a restriction on the total number of power-of-two terms for the beamformer coefficients. An iterative algorithm is employed to reduce the number of nonzero coefficients and, thereby, multipliers in both the robust and nonrobust beamformers. A quantization scheme in combination with a random search is then applied to efficiently distribute the power-of-two terms for the beamformer coefficients. Design examples show that the number of nonzero coefficients for the beamformers can be significantly reduced without a significant degradation in the integral squared error. In addition, robust beamformers are shown to be less sensitive to nonzero coefficient reduction and quantization than nonrobust beamformers. This brief investigates the performance of robust and nonrobust broadband beamformers with least squares and discrete coefficients to achieve low complexity and efficient hardware implementation. The broadband beamformer coefficients are expressed as the sum of power-of-two terms with a restriction on the total number of power-of-two terms for the beamformer coefficients. An iterative algorithm is employed to reduce the number of nonzero coefficients and, thereby, multipliers in both the robust and nonrobust beamformers. A quantization scheme in combination with a random search is then applied to efficiently distribute the power-of-two terms for the beamformer coefficients.Design examples show that the number of nonzero coefficients for the beamformers can be significantly reduced without a significant degradation in the integral squared error. In addition, robust beamformers are shown to be less sensitive to nonzero coefficient reduction and quantization than nonrobust beamformers

Three-State Feshbach Resonances Mediated By Second-Order Couplings

We present an analytical study of three-state Feshbach resonances induced by second-order couplings. Such resonances arise when the scattering amplitude is modified by the interaction with a bound state that is not directly coupled to the scattering state containing incoming flux. Coupling occurs indirectly through an intermediate state. We consider two problems: (i) the intermediate state is a scattering state in a distinct open channel; (ii) the intermediate state is an off-resonant bound state in a distinct closed channel. The first problem is a model of electric-field-induced resonances in ultracold collisions of alkali metal atoms [Phys. Rev. A 75, 032709 (2007)] and the second problem is relevant for ultracold collisions of complex polyatomic molecules, chemical reaction dynamics, photoassociation of ultracold atoms, and electron - molecule scattering. Our analysis yields general expressions for the energy dependence of the T-matrix elements modified by three-state resonances and the dependence of the resonance positions and widths on coupling amplitudes for the weak-coupling limit. We show that the second problem can be generalized to describe resonances induced by indirect coupling through an arbitrary number of sequentially coupled off-resonant bound states and analyze the dependence of the resonance width on the number of the intermediate states.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures; added a reference; journal reference/DOI refer to final published version, which is a shortened and modified version of this preprin

Crystallization of hard spheres under gravity

We present a simple argument to account for crystallization of hard spheres under the action of a gravitational field. The paper attempts to bridge the gap between two communities of scientists, one working on granular materials and the other on inhomogeneous liquid state theory.Comment: Physica A (in press

On the indoor beamformer design with reverberation

Beamforming remains to be an important technique for signal enhancement. For applications in open space, the transfer function describing waves propagation has an explicit expression, which can be employed for beamformer design. However, the function becomes very complex in an indoor environment due to the effects of reverberation. In this paper, this problem is discussed. A method based on the image source method (ISM) is applied to model the room impulse responses (RIRs), which will act as the transfer function between source and sensor. The indoor beamformer design problem is formulated as a minimax optimization problem. We propose and study several optimization models based on the -norm to design the beamformer. We found that it is advantageous to separate early and late reverberations in the design process and better designs can be achieved. Several numerical experiments are presented using both simulated data and real recordings to evaluate the proposed methods

Intestinal obstruction caused by a Meckel’s diverticulum adherent to an infected urachal cyst

Urachal remnant diseases are rare and frequently misdiagnosed, as the clinical presentation is similar to more common causes of intra-abdominal and pelvic disease. We report the rare case of a 1½-year-old boy with small-bowel obstruction caused by an adhesion band between a Meckel’s diverticulum and an infected urachal cyst. The condition was initially misdiagnosed and treated as a periappendiceal abscess on the basis of clinical examination and ultrasonography findings. In addition to the case report, we present an overview of urachal diseases

GRADUATING PHYSIOTHERAPISTS' PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR CAREER CHOICE

A survey of 72% of final year physiotherapy students at Cumberland College found that they were very satisfied with their career choice, few considered changing their occupation and changes in students' conceptions of physiotherapy had mostly been in a positive direction. They said that the most valued aspects of their career choice were the opportunity to accomplish something worthwhile, the friendliness of the people they worked with, and the opportunity to develop skills and abilities. Few students planned to leave the workforce but 69% hoped to be employed part-time during early childrearing. Some implications of such anticipated work patterns are discussed