This exploratory study investigates a primary science teacher?s reasoning when assessing students? multimodal knowledge representations in Biology. Findings reveal tensions between multimodal teaching and assessment practices, highlighting the teacher?s emphasis on written and oral components despite encouraging multimodal expression. Drawing on a multi-layered data set including a reflective conversation with the focal teacher, video observations and student-created posters, this study examines how her assessment of multimodal knowledge representation unfolded in teaching practice. Building on multimodal theory, the analysis identifies four key themes relative to the assessment of multimodal knowledge representations: exploring and searching for central concepts, challenges in assessing single multimodal representations, the influence of task design and the emergence of implicit assessment criteria. The study underscores the need for assessment approaches that recognise and support the use of diverse representational modes and related formative assessment strategies. By foregrounding the teacher?s lived experiences, this research contributes to science education by offering insights into the complexities of assessing multimodal knowledge representations, and by advocating for inclusive practices that better reflect students? varied ways of meaning-making.

The aim of this research review is to understand how dystopian science-fiction novels, such as Brave New World and Feed, can be read to gain an understanding of the exercise of control and power in relation to democracy, as well as to discuss to what use these novels may be put to in a Swedish upper secondary school. The first will be achieved through analysing these novels via a posthumanist lens. 

Democracy is not a given in all parts of our world, but it should be a given in Sweden. The Swedish National Agency for Education states that pupils are to be taught democratic values, along with how to orientate themselves in an information society, as well as develop their critical thinking. Critical thinking has always been, and is now of the utmost importance, especially considering the state of our world, and the ease of which misinformation can be spread using technology. 

In this thesis it is firstly concluded that both novels, in which neither portray "typical" human beings, bring up discussions that question what defines a human being, and the value of a human life. Secondly, neither of the fictional worlds of these two novels is a democratic society. The worlds are societies in which the citizens are controlled by regimes that rely on entertaining their citizens to keep them away from independency, autonomy, personal reflection, and critical thinking, which could threaten the regimes' control and power.

Lastly, as these sorts of novels are typically written to warn people of certain contemporary trends which may prove dangerous to humanity, and as they often portray societies that have steered away from democracy, pupils may be encouraged to develop critical thinking skills. Thus, teachers in Swedish upper secondary schools would do well to use dystopian science-fiction novels when teaching democracy and the importance of individuality.

Although previous studies have identified several UX methods applicable in agile contexts (e.g., Garcia et al., 2019; Hinderks et al., 2022), research also indicates that the agile approach often places limited emphasis on UX (Garcia et al., 2019; Jurca et al., 2014). Lack of emphasis on UX during system development can result in users experiencing, for example, fatigue, confusion, or irritation during the interaction, which can lead to inefficient use, lower accuracy, and an inability to understand and locate important functions (Hartson & Pyla, 2012). One factor that influences actions within organizations and individual teams is norms (Gneezy et al., 2016; Stamper et al., 2000). Norms can thus affect how agile frameworks and methods are applied, and thereby lay the basis for how UX methods can be established. However, there are only a few studies that have examined norms within agile system development and none of these has had the aim of exploring how UX can be established within the agile way of working, which indicates a research gap. This study aimed to explore norms within the Swedish Transport Administration's (Trafikverket’s) agile way of working that affect the future establishment of UX. To understand norms, the study was based on the theory of norm representations, which focuses on how norms are activated and represented in cognitive processes (Malle et al., 2021). Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, field interviews, observations, and document reviews, and analysed through a reflexive thematic analysis. Four main themes were identified from the collected data: norms regarding communication and information dissemination, norms around responsibilities and roles, norms regarding agile frameworks and tools, and UX-related norms. Based on the established themes, success factors, obstacles, and recommendations for establishing UX within the agile way of working were presented. The study contributes to understanding how the theory of norm representations can be applied in practice and the identification of norms in the agile way of working, as well as how UX can be integrated in a SAFe-based way of working within the Swedish Transport Administration. Further research should focus on validating the theory of norm representations and studying the applicability of the presented recommendations in practice.

Real-time speech translation in video calls has the potential to reduce language barriers in international communication, but existing solutions are often cloud-based and require significant computational resources. This limits their deployability on consumer-grade devices and raises concerns regarding privacy and operational costs. The aim of this thesis was to investigate state-of-the-art solutions for real-time on-device speech translation in web-based video calls on consumer-grade hardware, and to design and implement a browser-based prototype architecture within XMReality's existing platform. A literature review was conducted to identify suitable automatic speech recognition (ASR) and machine translation (MT) models for browser-based deployment. The selected models were integrated into a cascaded speech-to-text translation architecture and evaluated using metrics such as BLEU, METEOR and end-to-end latency. In addition, a user study was performed to assess the perceived translation quality, latency and overall usability of the proposed system. The results show that browser-based on-device speech translation is technically feasible using current open-source AI models. The proposed cascaded architecture, combining Whisper-based ASR and Opus-MT translation, achieved a practical balance between translation quality and latency, and browser compatibility while preserving user privacy through local processing. The user evaluation further showed that participants generally understood the overall meaning of conversations despite occasional transcription and translation errors, whereas latency had the greatest negative impact on the user experience. The findings demonstrate that current browser-based speech translation systems are primarily limited by computational constraints and browser support rather than by the availability of suitable AI models, providing a practical foundation for future on-device browser-based translation systems.

This thesis examines how climate risk modelling, forecasting, and data-driven planning tools areincorporated within municipal climate adaptation and urban planning frameworks in Stockholmand Gothenburg. Climate-related risks increasingly affect urban areas, and municipalities arerelying more strongly on climate projections, scenario analysis, and digital planning systems tosupport long-term adaptation planning and governance processes.The aim of the study is to explore how climate risk modelling, forecasting, and related digitalplanning tools are represented and incorporated within municipal planning documents, and toexamine the extent to which Artificial Intelligence (AI) is discussed within urban climategovernance. A comparative qualitative document analysis was conducted using official planningdocuments, climate adaptation plans, and environmental programmes from Stockholm andGothenburg. The analysis was informed by literature on urban resilience, anticipatorygovernance, and data-driven governance.The findings show that both municipalities increasingly use climate modelling forecasting tosupport long-term planning and climate adaptation. Climate risk is primarily described throughmeasurable and infrastructural dimensions, while socio-economic vulnerability receivescomparatively less attention. Explicit references to AI remain limited, although AI-assistedtechnologies appear indirectly through broader discussions of modelling, forecasting,digitalisation, and data-driven governance.The study concludes that climate risk modelling functions not only as a technical planninginstrument, but is also presented within planning documents as an important component ofmunicipal climate governance through which climate risks are interpreted and prioritised. While modelling supports anticipatory and evidence-based planning, the increasing reliance on data-driven systems also raises concerns regarding transparency, uncertainty, and the potential implications of increasingly data-driven approaches to climate governance.

This thesis examines how transport and mobility planners in Stockholm construct and operationalize children’s mobility needs and mobility fairness within express bus planning. The study investigates the gap between Sweden's legal commitment to children's rights that is formalized through the incorporation of the UNCRC into national law in 2020 and actual transport planning practice. Data collection drew on semi-structured interviews with eight planning professionals, document analysis of regional transport frameworks, and go-along field observations on the express bus route. The theoretical framework is drawn on four perspectives: mobility justice theory (Sheller, 2018), transport equity and accessibility frameworks (Pereira et al., 2016; Geurs and van Wee, 2004), the assumed user concept (Harrison, 2017; Spinney, 2024), and communicative planning theory and institutional governance (Healey, 1997; Forester, 1989), power-critical planning analysis (Flyvbjerg, 1998), and street-level bureaucracy (Lipsky, 1980). Findings reveal that express bus planning in Stockholm is predominantly calibrated around adult commuter patterns, rendering children structurally invisible in formal modelling tools such as VISUM. Planners acknowledge children’s mobility informally but lack instruments to integrate child-specific travel data into decision-making.  This study identifies simultaneous failures across all three dimensions of transport justice. Distributionally as stop rationalization disproportionately increases walking distance for children. Procedurally as the child impact assessments (barnkonsekvensanalys) a legal requirement under Sweden's incorporation of the UNCRC are systematically absent from express bus planning decisions. Recognitionally children are subsumed under generic user categories rather than acknowledged as a distinct demographic with specific mobility requirements. Field observations confirm that school-age passengers represent a substantial share of ridership during afternoon peaks, yet this pattern is absent from planning narratives.  

The thesis uses an ethnographically inspired explorative approach to study history teaching at three different preschools in Sweden. The theoretical strand combines aesthetics in the form of sensitive knowledge with concepts developed from history didactics and Play-Responsive Early Childhood Education and Care theory. The results show how history is re-interpreted and adjusted to Swedish preschool pedagogy, where children between 1 and 6 years participate actively in varying activities related to historical knowledge. The notion of "budding history teaching" was developed to describe and conceptualize the observed teaching practices. The concept encompasses an interdisciplinary subject area regarding the past that uses aesthetics in the form of sensitive knowledge and narrations in planned as well as spontaneous activities. Narrative events, often supported by physical artefacts, served to structure and consolidate joint experiences. During the activities, teachers would use artefacts to stimulate children’s sensations, thereby promoting their imaginary capacities to picture events in the past. In this way, a range of artefacts were used to help children move beyond their lifetime by imagining past events. Additionally, Budding history teaching engages with questions concerning the production and dissemination of historical knowledge.

In sum, the thesis demonstrates that history teaching is being carried out in Swedish preschools with children as young as one year old, even though it is only indirectly acknowledged in the curriculum. It underscores the need for further research into the how, what, and why of history teaching in early childhood education settings. It also argues for the need of professional development among Swedish preschool teachers. Such initiatives should provide both subject knowledge and didactic knowledge, carefully aligned with the preschool pedagogical tradition, to create teaching that is meaningful for children and supports their development.

The digitalization of industrial operations under Industry 4.0 and beyond has increased reliance on wide-area connectivity across distributed industrial environments. While improving efficiency, this connectivity expands the external attack surface. Internet-wide scanning and reconnaissance tools (e.g., Shodan and Nmap) can identify exposed industrial assets and reveal device information that facilitates vulnerability-driven targeting. Consequently, robust network architectures are required to reduce device exposure and discoverability while providing secure, scalable, and resilient communication.

This thesis addresses these challenges through architectural design and optimization for secure and scalable Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS). It first analyzes industrial device scanners and the security risks associated with active scanning, motivating the adoption of Host Identity Protocol (HIP)-based VPLS (HIPLS) for secure industrial communication. However, traditional HIPLS suffers from scalability limitations as encrypted tunnels, forwarding table entries, and control-plane overhead grow rapidly with the number of participating sites.

To overcome these limitations, this thesis develops a sequence of architectural and optimization solutions for secure VPLS. First, it replaces the full-mesh design with relay-based communication and formulates the Relay Placement Problem (RPP) to determine cost-efficient relay configurations while maintaining connectivity among all participating sites. For this NP-hard problem, a polynomial-time approximation algorithm with a provable performance guarantee is developed. The relay architecture is subsequently extended through Tunnel Relay Nodes (TRNs) and dynamic tunnel scheduling, for which a Lagrangian-relaxation-based algorithm efficiently obtains high-quality feasible solutions under connectivity and capacity constraints. The thesis also addresses the scalability of cryptographic key management by formulating the Key Distribution Center Placement (KDCP) problem and proposing an approximation framework with a provable solution-quality guarantee for distributed KDC deployment. Finally, the underlying trust model of secure VPLS is reconsidered through a Zero Trust architecture based on a multiparty extension of the HIP Base Exchange (HIP-MBEX), reducing customer dependence on trusted provider infrastructure. Evaluations using realistic and real-world network topologies demonstrate considerable reductions in tunnel count, forwarding state, and control-plane signaling, while maintaining bounded path stretch and low latency overhead in the evaluated scenarios.

The proposed algorithmic frameworks for relay and KDCP provide theoretical guarantees on solution quality, ensuring a provably cost-effective VPLS deployment. These contributions offer a dual advantage: they enable service providers to minimize Capital and Operational Expenditures (CAPEX/OPEX) through near-optimal resource utilization, while simultaneously providing customers with a secure, scalable solution for multi-site connectivity. Consequently, this thesis establishes a practical and robust foundation for next-generation industrial networks.

Advances in artificial intelligence and autonomy are reshaping how humans and technology work together. Increasingly, technology is understood not only as a tool, but as a teammate, reflecting an emerging hybrid teaming paradigm. This transition is exemplified in military aviation through Manned–Unmanned Teaming, where fighter pilots may operate alongside unmanned aircraft in joint activities. Designing for such hybrid team activities, however, is a wicked problem. It demands the integration of the human, the technology, and their relation around the phenomenon of team intentionality: what is going on, and what are we going to do about it. Manned–Unmanned Teaming sharpens this difficulty under conditions of time pressure, task difficulty, and risk exposure. However, the conceptual basis for designing for team intentionality remains fragmented across disciplines. This makes it difficult for researchers and practitioners to determine which intentional aspects of hybrid teaming to design for, and how. To this end, this thesis develops a practical framework of team intentionality. Drawing on team science and intentionality research, the framework is grounded in a synthesis of established theory and empirical insight. Four included papers address how intent can be understood, modelled, and designed for in hybrid teaming. They substantiate the framework theoretically, methodologically, and empirically, situating this in the Manned–Unmanned Teaming context under complex and dynamic conditions. The framework establishes concepts and relations around intentional states and processes at different levels of agency. It serves as an analytical and evaluative lens that connects the hybrid teaming paradigm to the design process. Applied across that process, it foregrounds the understanding and sharing of intent as essential to such design, identifying the aspects that members must align. Theoretically, it introduces team intentionality as a distinct construct within the hybrid teaming paradigm. In practice, it helps determine which intentional aspects to design for and how, providing a shared vocabulary across stakeholders and stages of the design process.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find what practical growth strategies were used by SME firms. We wanted to know how they prioritized and combined their strategies. Previous literature examined many theoretical and distinctive growth strategies used by SMEs; it did not examine how their strategy synthesis evolved in actuality.

Research question: How do Swedish SMEs prioritize and combine growth strategies for long-term growth? 

Methodology: A qualitative semi-structured interview design, using voluntary sampling. The data were then coded using thematic analysis, according to the Gioa framework. Fourteen  small Swedish enterprises were interviewed, spanning multiple industries. 

Key findings: Firms' growth strategy prioritization includes the following: Strategic positioning & market approach, resource constraints & financial discipline, and lastly, the architecture of strategic communication. 

Conclusion: 

Our results showed a strong contrast to what was mentioned in previous theory and literature. SMEs incorporate some classic growth strategies into their mix. However, they combine non-sequential strategic positioning & market approach, resource constraints & financial discipline, and the architecture of strategic communication into their overall growth strategy. 

Manufacturers that adopt Product-Service Systems (PSS) often keep their products in use longer and recover them at End-of-Use (EoU). This gives the manufacturer direct experience of how its products wear, fail, and are repaired, refurbished, or remanufactured. That experience could improve future designs, yet EoU information rarely reaches PD. Prior research has examined this gap between recovery operations and design, but has rarely addressed how a PSS business model affects it.

This thesis examined how a PSS business model affects the organisational conditions for EoU information to flow inside a manufacturer, and what prevents it from reaching PD. The study was a qualitative embedded case study of one Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in the material handling industry, covering the firm as a whole and three internal operating sites. The case was assessed against an analytical framework of eight organisational conditions drawn from previous research on information flow from circular operations to PD.

Adopting a PSS business model does not by itself create EoU information flow toward PD. It makes the firm’s repair and recovery work more visible internally, but the firm met few of this studies formulated organisational conditions that would turn that visibility into feedback PD could use.

The study traces the gap to three barriers. Structural decoupling separates EoU operations from PD, with no route between them. A financial rationale mismatch keeps the value created across the product’s life out of the cost and margin logic that justifies design decisions. Untranslated operational knowledge, finally, leaves practical observations from repair and refurbishment in a form that PD cannot use.

Visibility and EoU information flow rest on different organisational conditions. Bringing EoU information back to PD depends on deliberate organisational arrangements: a route connecting EoU operations to PD, a place for the value created across a product’s life in the logic behind design decisions, and a way to translate operational knowledge into a form PD can use.

Denna studie undersökte hur suicidalitet hos äldre (65+ år) tar sig uttryck, bakomliggande orsaker till suicidaliteten och centrala faktorer för suicidprevention. Detta mot bakgrund att psykisk ohälsa hos äldre är vanligt förekommande och att äldre över 65 år är den grupp med de högsta suicidtalen både globalt och nationellt. Det tidigare forskningsunderlaget är skralt och därför syftade studien till att generera utökad kunskap på området. Eftersom många äldre har hemtjänst är hemtjänstpersonalen i en unik position att följa de äldres mående och tidigt identifiera varningssignaler för suicidalitet. I studien användes en kvalitativ ansats och resultatet bygger på intervjuer med tio informanter från hemtjänsten. Datamaterialet analyserades genom en reflexiv tematisk analys. I resultatet framkom tre teman: hur oviljan att leva kommer till uttryck, när livet krymper och mötet med den suicidala äldre. Resultatet visade att hemtjänsten upplever att äldre uttrycker sig suicidalt, både direkt och indirekt. Resultatet lyfte även centrala sårbarhetsfaktorer för suicidalitet hos äldre, vilka går i linje med tidigare forskning. Det visade även att suicidalitet och försämrat psykiskt mående kan identifieras genom intrapersonella förändringar hos den äldre. Slutligen visade resultatet att det för hemtjänstpersonalen kan uppstå tveksamheter vid tolkning av suicidala uttryck, samt att identifiering av suicidalitet möjliggörs genom god kontinuitet i kontakten med de äldre.

Swedish municipalities rely on digital tools and IT-delivered services to carry out everyday work, while facing increasing pressure to improve efficiency through digitalisation. This makes Digital Employee Experience (DEX) important, as employees evaluate not only whether tools function but also whether the organisation provides clear decisions, effective coordination, and sufficient follow-up support. This thesis explores how municipal IT-organisations and operational users perceive and experience the digital workplace, and how municipalities implement, evaluate, and improve it over time based on user experiences.

The study uses a qualitative multiple-case design across three medium-sized Swedish municipalities and draws on 22 semi-structured interviews with participants from the municipal IT-organisation, municipal operations, and a partner organisation. The findings indicate that the most persistent DEX related constraints are organisational rather than technical. Communication between operations and the IT-organisation is often indirect, which filters needs and creates translation gaps. Decision rights and ownership are frequently unclear, and coordination is fragmented across units. Although municipalities carry out implementation, evaluation, and improvement activities, these steps are often weakly connected. Feedback is primarily captured when issues emerge through ticket-based routines, follow-up support is uneven, and learning occurs too late to enable steady improvement. The thesis suggests that municipalities can strengthen DEX by improving cross-functional direction and ownership, involving operations earlier, making feedback routines more actionable, and establishing a continuous loop in which use leads to feedback, learning, and visible improvements over time.

This study examines how Swedish interest rate swap spreads respond to monetary policy surprises in connection with Riksbank policy announcements. The analysis covers swap spreads with maturities of 2, 5 and 10 years over the period 2015–2025. Monetary policy surprises are measured using high-frequency changes in the 1-month OIS rate around Riksbank announcements and are expressed in basis points. Swap spreads are calculated as the difference between swap rates and government bond yields with corresponding maturities. To analyze the dynamic response, the study uses local projections, where the effect of a monetary policy surprise is estimated separately for each horizon up to ten days after the announcement. The model is estimated both in a symmetric specification and in an asymmetric specification where shocks are divided by direction. Positive surprises are interpreted as tightening surprises, while negative surprises are interpreted as easing surprises. The models also include lagged swap spreads and control variables for financial uncertainty, exchange rate movements and Swedish stock market volatility. Differences between positive and negative surprises are tested using Wald tests. The results show that the average effect of monetary policy surprises on Swedish interest rate swap spreads is limited. In the symmetric model, few effects are statistically significant, which means that the study does not find strong evidence of a general relationship across all maturities and horizons. When the surprises are divided by direction, some asymmetric patterns emerge, mainly for the 10-year swap spread. Positive monetary policy surprises are associated with a negative response at several longer horizons, while negative surprises show more variable effects.

 This study examines how masculinity is constructed and visualized in Andrew

Tate´s online content, with a specific focus on how some masculine ideals are made

to appear desirable through both linguistic and visual representations. The study

examines discussions today on the manosphere, digital influencer culture and

changing gender relations. The study used a qualitative discourse analytical

approach and analyzed three publicly available YouTube clips featuring Andrew

Tate. The analysis uses feminist theory, masculinity studies and perspectives on

discourse and power.

The findings show that masculinity in Tate’s content is repeatedly constructed

through themes of competition, dominance, self-improvement and external

validation. Masculinity is not framed as something one is born with, but something

that one must continuously earn and defend through success, control and social

recognition. The study also demonstrates how women are frequently positioned as

rewards, status markers or recourses within male self -development, but rarely seen

as independent individuals. The analysis also shows how the visual and

performative elements like body language, tone, confidence and luxury aesthetics

plays a big part in making this type of masculinity appear desirable.

The study argues that the influence of this type of content is intertwined in the

linguistic, visual performance and the digital branding. The combination of these

three is central to understand how these masculine ideals are normalized and

circulated in today’s social media culture. By focusing on both visual and linguistic

representations the study contributes to a deeper understanding of how masculinity

is performed and made desirable in digital spaces.

In acute emergencies, bystanders may arrive at the scene before professional emergency services, which can be crucial for saving lives. To leverage the potential of civilians to assist during accidents, several Swedish regions have implemented a concept where volunteers are trained and alerted to emergencies in their immediate vicinity. These volunteer lifesavers are referred to as Civil Responders (CIPs). To support this initiative, the Swedish Fire Protection Association (SBF) is developing a national system portal featuring a digital training program that aspiring CIPs complete before participating in practical training sessions with local emergency services. Since the target group includes users with varying backgrounds and technical proficiency, the training must be accessible and easy to use. While traditional WIMP interfaces dominate digital education, Conversational User Interfaces (CUI) have shown potential to increase motivation, engagement, and knowledge mastery within digital learning. Despite this, the use of such interfaces in the training of volunteer lifesavers remains limited. The purpose of this study was to, through a user-centered design process, investigate how a digital training program for civil responders should be designed to support user needs and learning. The design process also compared how a traditional WIMP interface and a conversational interface affect perceived usability, motivation, engagement, and learning in a training context for volunteer lifesavers. The study was conducted using a Research through Design approach (RtD) and included user interviews, an analysis of precedent designs and a comparative workshop, resulting in a final design proposal. The design process show that digital training for volunteer lifesavers should be designed so that traditional graphical user interfaces are complemented by a balanced degree of conversational interaction. This combination can contribute to experiences of motivation and engagement while clear navigation structures and fixed training steps provide security and predictability for the user.

Low-power Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) design is central to Ericsson's product strategy, particularly in radio and baseband systems. Managing power consumption in modern ASIC design requires iterative power estimation throughout the design cycle, yet the two available approaches present a fundamental tradeoff: Register Transfer Level (RTL) analysis is fast but lacks physical accuracy, while gate-level analysis is accurate but requires synthesis and Gate-Level Simulation (GLS) infrastructure that limits how frequently it can be applied.  This thesis develops and evaluates a lightweight, repeatable power regression flow that enables gate-level power analysis from early synthesis onward, supporting both vector-based and vectorless methods with minimal manual overhead between iterations. The vector-based path enables the conversion of RTL simulation stimulus to self-contained gate-level testbenches using in-house tools, eliminating manual signal name mapping and testbench adaptation between netlist revisions, reducing reliance on costly EDA simulation licences, and enabling power signoff across organisational boundaries without sharing proprietary verification infrastructure. The vectorless path bypasses simulation entirely by assigning activity metrics extracted from either RTL or gate-level sources to the synthesised netlist, enabling PrimeTimePX, a gate-level power analysis tool, to estimate power.  The flow is evaluated across three representative Intellectual Property (IP) types: a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) block, a hardware accelerator, and a common memory subsystem, spanning pre-DFT (post-synthesis, before test logic insertion) and post-layout design stages. Power estimates are tracked across stages to verify that relative power behaviour observed at synthesis persists through physical implementation.

Additionally, the thesis investigates glitch power characterisation through three complementary methods: Delay Shift Analysis (DSA) on zero-delay activity, Standard Delay Format (SDF) annotated simulation with pulse control filtering, and full SDF simulation with glitch scaling. A calibrated configuration is identified that accounts for glitch power without requiring timing-annotated simulation for every regression run.  Results demonstrate that the flow provides consistent, actionable power feedback across design stages with turnaround times compatible with frequent design iteration. The vectorless approach, when calibrated, produces estimates within a workable margin of the vector-based reference and is viable as a fast alternative for early-stage estimation, lower-priority IPs, or scenarios where simulation stimulus is not yet available and an early power budget estimate is needed, though further tuning of the annotation strategy is needed to tighten the deviation across all IP types. The methodology is functional and close to a fully turnkey solution, with vector-based analysis and DSA applied selectively where higher confidence is needed or where designers require detailed visibility into glitch behaviour, clock gating efficiency, and power optimisation opportunit

INNEHÅLL:

Förord

Litterär mindfulness: Att söka eskapism i realism - Thea Tselepis

En uppväxt i Pettsons och Findus myller - Noah Vestermark

Easter eggs: Framtidens marknadsföring? - Julia Orre

Våld som kärlekens språk: Romantiseringen av kvinnligt lidande från antiken till idag - Tara Herö Wide

Inte bara ett spel: Gemensamt berättande i Dungeons & Dragons - Birk Davidsson

Rör inte min Dylan! Bob Dylan och litteraturens gränser - Daniel Sandberg Eriksson

Musikalens löjligheter och möjligheter i kristider -Jessica Eriksson

Varför skyddas jag från att bli rädd? Genren som göms i skuggorna - Daniel Jovanovic

Michael, vad mumlade du om? - David Brignoli

Foten, kroppens katedral? - Jesper Larsson

Climate change is increasingly recognized as a driver of respiratory disease, but attention hasfocused largely on outdoor pathways such as air pollution, aeroallergens, heat, and wildfires.Less attention has been given to indoor environmental consequences of climate change.Increasingly frequent flooding, extreme precipitation, humidity, and water intrusion candamage buildings and promote persistent dampness and mold growth. Accumulating evidenceindicates that damp and moldy indoor environments are associated with respiratorysymptoms, asthma exacerbation, and the development of adult-onset asthma.

I propose that damp buildings represent a healthy housing agenda linking climate change toadult respiratory disease. This pathway may disproportionately affect low-income households,renters, occupants of poorly maintained housing, workers exposed to damp indoorenvironments, and communities vulnerable to climate-related flooding. By integrating evidencefrom climate science, indoor environmental health, respiratory epidemiology, occupationalmedicine, and housing policy, I argue that healthy housing should be recognized as a corecomponent of climate adaptation and asthma prevention. Climate-resilient buildings, rapidremediation of water damage, improved ventilation, and surveillance of dampness-relatedrespiratory disease represent practical opportunities to protect health in a changing climate.

The control plane in the gNB is central for a functioning NG RAN (NR) and has many functions. In order to ensure proper operation of the control plane it uses admission control to maximize resource utilization without overloading the system. Letting overload occur could risk the integrity of the control plane, and thus the wider gNB. This thesis presents a comparison between two control strategies: PID and fuzzy control. PID control is by far the most commonly used strategy in control theory while fuzzy control is a looser term, referring to strategies that does not fit well into any other category. The PID controller used was a time discrete version of a basic PID control formula while the fuzzy control was implemented to mirror the behavior of Ericsson's current controller. These tests were conducted in a simplified simulator that emulated the CPU load the gNB generated during a UE connection.

The thesis also evaluates different ways to scale the system. Firstly, a comparison between three load balancing algorithms (DWRR, DWRS and MCS) is conducted and presented. Then the system is scaled in different ways in order to evaluate how that affected the performance of the control plane. To make this comparison the simulator was split into multiple containers using Kubernetes.

The results of these simulations showed that the PID and fuzzy control strategies perform differently depending on the situation. Under conditions with low amounts of disturbance the PID controller generally works best. Increasing the amount of disturbance will make the fuzzy controller perform better up until a certain point, when the PID controller once again works better. When it comes to the load balancing algorithms, MCS shows the best performance while the other two suffers from problems with oscillations. The system also scaled nicely with no clear signs of degradation in performance.

Denna uppsats undersöker sambandet mellan privat drift, kvalitet och kostnader inom svensk äldreomsorg. Med hjälp av kommunal paneldata för perioden 2015–2022 analyseras om en högre grad av privat drift är förknippad med förändringar i icke-kontrakterbar kvalitet och relativa kostnadsnivåer inom äldreomsorgen. Kvalitet mäts genom brukarupplevd kvalitet i hemtjänst och särskilt boende samt genom fallskador bland personer som är 80 år eller äldre. Kostnader analyseras med hjälp av kommunernas nettokostnadsavvikelse för äldreomsorg. Den empiriska strategin består av OLS-modeller, modeller med kommun- och årsfasta effekter, difference-in-differences och eventstudie-analyser. Resultaten visar att högre privatiseringsgrad är förknippad med lägre brukarupplevd kvalitet och fler fallskador i enkla OLS-modeller. Dessa samband försvinner dock i huvudsak när kommun- och årsfasta effekter inkluderas. Detta tyder på att de negativa sambanden i de deskriptiva modellerna främst speglar strukturella skillnader mellan kommuner, snarare än ett robust samband mellan privat drift och kvalitet. Studien finner därför inget tydligt stöd för att ökad privat drift systematiskt försämrar eller förbättrar kvaliteten inom äldreomsorgen. För kostnader pekar resultaten tydligare i förväntad riktning. Kommuner som övergår till en mer omfattande nivå av privat drift tenderar att ha lägre nettokostnadsavvikelser, vilket indikerar ett lägre relativt kostnadsläge. Samtidigt visar eventstudien vissa tecken på skillnader mellan behandlade kommuner och kontrollkommuner redan före förändringen. Kostnadsresultaten bör därför tolkas som samband snarare än som kausala effekter. Sammantaget ger studien begränsat stöd för hypotesen att privat drift minskar icke-kontrakterbar kvalitet, men visst försiktigt stöd för hypotesen att mer omfattande privat drift är förknippad med lägre relativa kostnader inom äldreomsorgen.

We are exploring the impact of fiscal policies on inclusive growth. Using a two-way fixed effects regression model and local projections, we investigate 123 economies to find the impact of fiscal rules on inclusive growth globally. For inclusive growth, we use different sets of variables (HDI, Gini, GDI, and SDGI). In addition, regarding fiscal policies, we look at fiscal rules at a disaggregated level. Looking at the four main types of fiscal rules (debt rules, budget balance rules, expenditure rules, and revenue rules). The relationship between fiscal rules and inclusive growth is explored due to two trends seen globally. First, that fiscal rules are on the rise, and secondly, that inequality is increasing throughout the world. Gaps in previous literature regarding this relationship help further motivate this study. 

The study finds that the aggregate level of fiscal rules has a significant impact on HDI, Gini, and GDI, and for the disaggregate level, BBR and DR are the two most important types of fiscal rules, with the strongest relationship found between BBR and Gini. Fiscal rules are also found to be more effective in countries with higher levels of life expectancy, trade openness, and advanced economies. These results contribute to previous research on what circumstances are needed to achieve the desired effect of fiscal rules, from a policymaking perspective. Fiscal rules must be treated separately depending on which country they are implemented in, and for which development factor they are intended to improve in order to achieve inclusive growth.

Climate change and rising energy costs are driving a growing need for systematic energy management. The international standard ISO 50001:2018 serves as the primary framework for energy management. However, despite its potential, the implementation rate remains low in Sweden, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the drivers and barriers for the implementation and certification of ISO 50001:2018 within SMEs, and to highlight how perceptions of these factors differ between certified and non-certified companies. The study was conducted using an abductive approach and is based on eight semi-structured interviews. The interview data was analysed using thematic analysis according to Braun & Clarke’s model, resulting in ten identified themes divided into five drivers and five barriers.

The most prominent drivers are external requirements, a positive attitude toward the standard's systematic approach, and economic effects. All certified companies in the study stated that legal requirements were the primary reason for implementing ISO 50001:2018. Conversely, non-certified companies emphasised that potential customer requirements would constitute the most significant driver for future certification. Economic savings resulting from reduced energy use were identified as a substantial driver across all respondent groups. The most common barriers are negative attitudes and a lack of external requirements. Noncertified companies maintained that certification was not considered worth the resource expenditure in the absence of external pressure. Resource constraints, specifically lack of time and administrative burden, were identified as central barriers, alongside a lack of expertise and difficulties regarding the requirement for continuous improvement.

The most distinct difference between the groups is the presence of external requirements. All certified companies referred to legislation or corporate directives as their primary motivation, whereas the absence of such mandates was the most prominent barrier for non-certified companies. A commonality between the groups was a positive fundamental attitude toward the standard's potential; however, for non-certified companies, this perception was insufficient without external pressure. The results indicate that the current regulatory structure risks leading to symbolic rather than substantive adaption. To broaden implementation, a combination of strengthened economic incentives, increased knowledge dissemination, and an adaptation of the standard's support structure to the specific conditions of smaller enterprises is likely required.

This dissertation explores how wood is shaped as a subject-specific area in the intersection of forests and Swedish educational craft. Due to the highly contested nature of forestry today, the study initially proposes that wood is to be understood as a complex challenge, or dilemma, for the subject of craft. The purpose of the study is therefore to contribute subject-specific knowledge that can facilitate adaptive approaches to wood in order to promote complexity in a multilateral educational issue. The study is carried out within an ecology of practices, meaning that participants engaged in the study all share an interest in the forest and sloyd, but occupy different positions within a broader field of craft in Sweden. Educational praxis with wood is in this study thus understood as comprising a “bundle” of different practices and practitioners in this case consisting of a purposeful selection of sloyd teachers, regional handicraft consultants and craft artists. Through a combination of group conversation, material elicitation, and follow-up interviews, the study has been carried out to ensure communicative validity, emphasize materiality, and create a cooperative approach. The study has been carried out in three consecutive cycles, and the empirical material consists of physical examples of wood, trees, and/or forests brought to the group conversations by the participants themselves and field notes. Besides the idea of an ecology of practices, the theoretical framework consists of two intersecting parts: affect and closeness from a new materialist perspective and a non-essentialist approach to natural resources. Together these parts comprise a theoretical figuration that makes it possible to analyze and discuss wood through questions of material agency, relationality and practices that either promote or prohibit the enactment of wood as a subject-specific material. Analytically this dissertation builds on Annemarie Mol’s versions and tensions. This allows for an engagement with how different versions of the material are performed and how these versions in turn coordinate and relate to one another. Key findings suggest 18 different versions of this subject-specific area and three significant tensions between them. Firstly, as a procured material resource, albeit on a smaller scale of multipurpose forestry, wood can be understood as regulated, and in part interfered with by institutionalized value regimes and forms of forestry. Secondly, the positionality of wood ambulates between the organic and the inert material object which actualizes a hybridity that prompts existential issues, questions of empathy and ethical ambivalence. Lastly, wood as a matter of side streams, here implying production and handling of waste, sparks tensions regarding the accessibility to and consumption of wood in relation to the dynamic impermanence and finiteness of the material resource itself. In conclusion, the subject-specific area is proposed as grounds for probing ethical, resource dynamical, and existential aspects as part of educational work that the forest and forestry actualize through the material and materiality of wood itself.

Despite the growing number of scientific investigations on developing taxonomies in various industries and categorizing energy end-use (EEU) processes, research on such frameworks in the data center (DC) sector remains limited, restricting systematic analysis of energy use, benchmarking, and identification of energy efficiency measures. This study seeks to achieve two key objectives: (1) to create a hierarchical taxonomy for categorizing EEU process, (2) and to identify the most relevant energy performance indicators (EnPIs). The methodology combines hierarchical classification of energy flows with quantitative analysis based on time-resolved operational data, allowing for detailed analysis of dynamic system behaviour and allocation of energy use across processes, applied to a DC room with a detached in-rack water cooling system in Sweden operated by Ericsson. The results of this paper present a novel hierarchical taxonomy for a water-cooled DC room with six defined EEU processes, of which four are related to data processing processes and two to support processes. Notably, over 99.9% of total EEU is connected to data processing processes which is a significantly higher figure compared to other production processes in other sectors. Moreover, the established EnPIs can facilitate benchmarking between DCs with similar infrastructures and for monitoring the energy use of various EEU processes. The proposed methodology is transferable to other DC environments with comparable system boundaries and data availability, and its reproducibility is supported by the structured and data-driven methodology, which enables replication of the analytical approach given comparable data availability.

This thesis explores different perceptions of post-war safety in Sri Lanka. This is conducted through examining the "transnational gap" between the Tamil diaspora and local residents in the North and East. The State of Sri Lanka has mainly prioritized a "Victor’s Peace" through material infrastructure and territorial consolidation. This clearly aligns with the "Freedom from Want" pillar of human security. This focus on physical development fails to foster a comprehensive sense of safety.  

The study applies a dual framework of Social Constructivism and Human Security.  And the research utilizes qualitative semi-structured interviews and secondary data. It enables the study to analyze how safety is socially constructed and lived by the Tamil Community.

The findings of the study reflect that the local residents do acknowledge material improvements. However, their narratives signify that they continue to face challenges related to "Freedom from Fear". These include persistent military surveillance, institutional exclusion, and unresolved land disputes. When considering the diaspora’s perception, the study revealed that it’s often "frozen" in the collective trauma of the 2009 conflict. In addition, their perceptions are also reinforced by advocacy-orientated media that filter ground-level changes. 

Ultimately, the study argues that true post-war safety requires a shift from securitization to a guarantor of rights. And it finally concludes that safety is indivisible from dignity and equal citizenship. Moving beyond monitored stability towards a shared national consciousness requires dismantling the structural residues of conflict.

Contemporary challenges such as climate change, urban development, and an increasingly unstable global security situation place growing pressure on emergency and crisis response systems. Professional response organizations must manage both large-scale crises and frequent local emergencies under limited public resources. In this context, volunteers are increasingly considered as complementary response resources. This development is supported by information and communication technologies (ICTs), which enable communication, dispatch, and coordination between formal response actors and volunteers.

In Sweden, the volunteer first responder concept was introduced about 15 years ago. Volunteers are recruited, trained, and dispatched by municipal rescue services through a mobile application to support incidents such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, traffic accidents, drowning, and residential fires. The concept has expanded to more municipalities because of its perceived benefits, including faster response times and reduced loss of life and property damage. These volunteers can be described as semi-organized: they are coordinated by rescue services without being formally employed, placing them between organized and spontaneous volunteers.

Previous research has mainly focused on spontaneous volunteer activities in large-scale crises, often coordinated through social media. Lately, some attention has been given to more coordinated forms of volunteer involvement in local emergency response, such as volunteer first responders. However, existing knowledge is fragmented and mainly descriptive, providing limited understanding of how this form of semi-organized volunteerism should be conceptualized, how it operates in practice, what outcomes it produces, which conditions shape volunteer contributions, and whether it can be extended to large-scale crisis response.

This thesis understands the volunteer first responder concept as an ICT-enabled form of co-production of emergency response. The overall aim of the thesis is to explore how ICT-enabled co-production of emergency response emerges, functions, and develops, from local emergency response efforts to broader potential integration of volunteers in crisis response. The aim is addressed through three objectives: (1) to systematize existing knowledge on ICT-enabled co-production of emergency response, develop models of volunteer first responder initiatives, and explore how they may contribute to a broader typology of ICT-enabled co-production, (2) to describe and evaluate the outcomes of volunteer first responders’ contributions in local emergency response and identify the conditions that enable volunteers’ contributions, and (3) to explore the potential for integrating volunteer first responders into large-scale crisis response. The thesis is interdisciplinary, with ICT-enabled co-production of public services used as the main analytical lens, complemented by a socio-technical ensemble view from information systems research. It adopts a mixed-methods case study design combining a literature review, interviews, incident reports, surveys, experimental test alerts, and a scenario-based workshop.

The results show that the volunteer first responder concept can be seen as an emerging type of interdependent digitalized co-production of emergency response, in which volunteers, professional responders, and ICT solutions are mutually dependent. Existing typologies of ICT-enabled co-production do not fully capture this form of volunteerism. Three organizational models of volunteer first responder initiatives across rural and urban contexts, and with national support, are presented. They demonstrate how the volunteer initiatives emerge bottom-up and are organized through interdependent relationships between actors and evolve over time through recruitment, response, and maintenance phases. The findings show that volunteers often arrive before professionals, contribute to faster initial response, and perform a broader range of tasks than previously assumed. Their contributions are shaped by conditions such as timely ICT dispatch, training, equipment, trust, and structured collaboration, while limitations in ICT dispatch and unclear roles may reduce participation and motivation over time. The findings further indicate that volunteer first responders may complement large-scale crisis response, mainly in support and coordination roles, but that integration requires clear structures, stable ICT support for dispatch and on-site coordination, and appropriate organizational and legal frameworks.

The main scientific contribution of the thesis is the identification and presentation of a new type of ICT-enabled co-production: interdependent digitalized co-production of emergency response. This type is represented through a model showing that ICT-enabled co-production does not operate through a simple linear relationship between citizens and formal actors, but through circular and mutually dependent relationships between volunteers, municipal rescue services, ICT artifacts, and national actors. By combining this type with a socio-technical ensemble view, the thesis also shows that ICT artifacts are not merely support tools for dispatch, but subsystems in a broader coproduction system. These subsystems may enable or hinder co-production depending on their functionality and alignment with organizational routines, user needs, legal arrangements, and institutional support. Practically, the thesis provides knowledge that may support the development, coordination, and scaling of volunteer first responder initiatives in emergency and crisis response.

Oxycodone has been one of the most common opioids found in drug-induced poisoning deaths in Swedensince 2020. A better understanding of oxycodone’s metabolism could allow us to develop new tools thatcould prevent oxycodone related deaths. One way to improve understanding of oxycodone metabolism isto develop a mathematical model of its pharmacokinetics. A pharmacokinetic model describes the concentrations of oxycodone and its metabolites in a person’s blood or urine over time. The concentration ofoxycodone and its metabolites can provide information if, for example, a person acquires dangerous concentrations of oxycodone in their body. What is troubling is that current pharmacokinetic models of oxycodone metabolism have shortcomings in describing all relevant metabolites, accounting for the CYP2D6phenotype, and incorporating individual anthropometric measurements. To address these problems, a mathematical model of oxycodone metabolism was developed by using iterative model-based hypothesis testing. The developed model could describe the three main metabolic pathways: O-demethylation,N-demethylation, and 6-keto-reduction, over 24 hours for oxycodone and its metabolites in the blood.The model could do this with respect to anthropometric measurements and the CYP2D6 phenotype.During model development and implementation of CYP2D6 phenotype consideration, model evaluationrevealed that CYP2D6 metabolisers exhibited overall poorer oxycodone metabolism not only in the Odemethylation pathway but also in the reduction and N-demethylation pathways. This behaviour wascontrary to what the literature suggested about how the poor metabolisers should behave.Continuing, when attempting to describe both blood and urine dynamics simultaneously, the modelfailed to explain the urinary dynamics. However, because the model accurately described oxycodonedynamics in the blood, it could potentially be used by forensics in the future to predict the time ofintake, dose size, and route of administration from a single sample collected from living patients. Beingable to determine the time of intake, dose size, and route of administration could be useful in futureforensic cases where such information is scarce. The model could also be used in the future to createpatient-specific dosing plans to prevent accidental overdosing cases.

Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) is a Layer-2 VPN technology used to connect geographically separated sites as if they were on the same local network. With the introduction of security mechanisms like Host Identity Protocol (HIP), it becomes possible to securely connect distributed networks with identity-based communication, which gives a robust way of connecting and protecting business networks.

This thesis evaluates how HIP-based secure VPLS scales and how the performance compares to plain IP-based communication. The study is performed with the help of Airwall for the HIP-based communication, which is a technology that enables users to create secure overlay networks with similar characteristics to VPLS. By using the SLICES-RI research platform, multiple virtual machines were spawned across geographically dispersed sites, and by generating both tunneled HIP-traffic and normal IP traffic, a performance comparison could be performed. Scenarios with different geographical setups and number of sites were tested and metrics such as throughput, latency, and jitter were collected and analyzed.

The results indicate a noticeable performance overhead of using HIP-based VPLS in both throughput and latency. In the test scenarios, HIP-based traffic adds on average 1-5 ms in latency compared to IP and is limited to a maximum of 200 Mbps. The reason for this behavior is theorized to be the cryptographic and control-plane overhead introduced by HIP and VPLS, which is supported by theory. The results provide insights into HIP-based VPLS performance and the potential trade-offs when used in business networks.

Steatotic liver disease (SLD), which includes metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-associated liver disease (MetALD), and alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD), affects up to 40% of the global population. Advanced fibrosis in SLD is more common in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and is associated with a poorer prognosis. SLD is associated with other ectopic fat depositions and cardiac remodelling. Although MASLD is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide, evidence from Swedish primary care remains limited. 

The relationship between MASLD and microvascular complications of T2D remains uncertain. Activin A has been linked to fibrogenesis, but its value as a biomarker for advanced fibrosis is unclear. Although interest in SLD screening among patients with T2D is increasing, its optimal design and cost-effectiveness remain unresolved. 

This thesis examines the prevalence, clinical correlates, and management of MASLD, with or without advanced fibrosis, among patients with T2D in primary care. It also evaluates activin A as a biomarker for advanced fibrosis and assesses the cost-effectiveness of a screening and management algorithm for SLD. 

Paper I was a retrospective primary care cohort study of patients with T2D, using medical record review and non-invasive algorithms to assess steatosis and advanced fibrosis risk. Papers II and IV analysed baseline data from a prospective primary care cohort in which patients with T2D underwent magnetic resonance imaging/spectroscopy and transient elastography to assess MASLD, with or without advanced fibrosis; Paper II also included medical record review of microvascular complications. Paper III used follow-up data from a cohort of participants with biopsy-proven MASLD to assess activin A levels and PNPLA3 I148M genotype. Paper V used a lifetime microsimulation model to evaluate the costs and health outcomes of a SLD screening and management algorithm in primary care for patients with T2D. 

In Paper I, 350 participants were included. Most had increased steatosis risk, 29–65% had increased risk of advanced fibrosis, and few had known steatosis. In Paper II, which included 308 participants with T2D, MASLD was not associated with a higher overall prevalence of microvascular complications. In Paper III, 41 participants were included; higher activin A levels were associated with advanced fibrosis and the PNPLA3 I148M G/G genotype. In Paper IV, 59% of 308 participants had MASLD and 7% had suspected advanced fibrosis. MASLD was associated with obesity, ectopic fat deposition and distinct left ventricular characteristics. In Paper V, the ICER for screening and management compared with standard of care was EUR 128,072/QALY overall, ranging from EUR 5,168/QALY for ALD to EUR 157,489/QALY for MASLD. 

In conclusion, MASLD is common among patients with T2D in Swedish primary care, although advanced disease appears uncommon and awareness of MASLD has historically been low. MASLD was not associated with an overall increase in microvascular complications, whereas obesity was associated with both MASLD and advanced fibrosis. Activin A showed potential as a biomarker for advanced fibrosis. The SLD screening and management algorithm were unlikely to be cost-effective overall, despite substantial variation between SLD subtypes. 

Background Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common yet poorly understood disorder of gut-brain interaction. The gut microbiome along with neurological, genetic, and immunological factors are suspected to be involved in the aetiology of IBS. An elevated number of mast cells and eosinophils occupying the colonic mucosa has been observed, but their respective roles remain undefined.

Purpose The aim of this study is to examine if colonic mast cell and eosinophil densities correlate with symptoms of IBS.

Method Twenty-one women with severe IBS, aged 18–51 years, underwent a year-long, multimodal treatment including interventions by physiotherapists, physicians, psychologists, and dieticians. Colonic biopsies and the IBS Symptom Severity Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, IBS Quality of Life Instrument, Visceral Sensitivity Index, and Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale for IBS questionnaires were collected before and after treatment. The biopsies were analysed for mucosal mast cell and eosinophil densities by means of immunofluorescence microscopy utilising antibodies targeting mast cell tryptase and eosinophil cationic protein.

Results Eosinophil density (p = 0.013), but not mast cell density (p = 0.126), had increased after treatment, and all included questionnaires had lower mean scores post-treatment (p = 0.025). Negative correlations were found at baseline between eosinophils and the Visceral Sensitivity Index (p = 0.018), and at follow-up between mast cells and eosinophils (p = 0.012), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (p = 0.008), and Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale for IBS (p = 0.019). Changes in mast cell density, but not eosinophil density, was found to strongly inversely correlate with the IBS Symptom Severity Scale (p = 0.003), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (p = 0.005), IBS Quality of Life Instrument (p = 0.009), Visceral Sensitivity Index (p = 0.025), and Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale for IBS (p = 0.031).

Conclusion The results indicate that, for patients with severe IBS, an increase in colonic mast cell density translates into a relieved burden of IBS. Furthermore, while eosinophil count did not correlate with symptoms, their increased density after treatment indicates that eosinophils facilitate tissue-repair in IBS.

Detta kandidatarbete undersöker de estetiska uttrycksmöjligheter som värmebehandling av faner ger upphov till, samt hur en replikerbar och kontrollerbar tonpalett kan tas fram för bruk i möbelgestaltning. Bakgrunden är intarsiatraditionens teknik att med hjälp av varm sand mörka ned bitar av faner, här utvidgad till en systematisk metod för att skapa en sammanhållen nyanspalett ur ett enda träslag. Fyra träslag undersöktes, björk, ask, bok och päronträ. Provbitar värmdes i en konsumentugn vid temperaturer mellan 180° och 240° C i steg om tio grader, under 30 minuter per steg. Färgförändringen dokumenterades fotografiskt under kontrollerade ljusförhållanden och analyserades i HSB-skala med hjälp av Photoshops färgmedelvärdesfunktion (Average filter), med ljushet (Brightness) som primärt mätvärde. Resultaten visar att samtliga träslag mörknar med ökad temperatur, men med en icke-linjär kurva. Ask uppvisade det mest oregelbundna förloppet medan björk och päron gav de jämnare övergångarna. Björk valdes för den slutliga intarsian på grund av sitt breda tonomfång och sin ströporiga, jämna fiberstruktur. Intarsian skars med laser med hjälp av karbontekniken och demonstrerar palettens uttrycksmöjligheter i ett bildmotiv med åtta nyanssteg. Studien visar att det är fullt möjligt att med enkel utrustning ta fram en replikerbar tonpalett i värmebehandlat faner, och att metoden erbjuder estetiska kvaliteter som bets och ytfärg inte kan ersätta vid bearbetning och slipning efter montering.

Magnetic navigation is a promising alternative for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), as they cannot rely on Global Navigation Satellite Systems underwater and commonly use Doppler Velocity Logs for navigation, whose acoustic emissions may be detectable during covert operations. One of the main challenges of magnetic navigation is the corruption of magnetic measurements by disturbances originating from the platform.

This thesis investigates whether map-less magnetic compensation using a magnetometer array is feasible for an AUV operating in regions with large magnetic anomalies, and whether reliable speed estimation can be achieved from the compensated magnetic measurements. The study evaluates the traditional aeromagnetic Tolles-Lawson (TL) compensation model and an extended model incorporating measurements from onboard electronics (OBE). A linear magnetic speed-estimation method was also investigated. The methods were evaluated using data collected as part of the Vinnova ENOK project during sea trials outside Askö in the summer of 2025. The dataset includes measurements from a three-sensor magnetometer array mounted on the AUV.

The results show that a significant portion of the platform-induced magnetic disturbances can be compensated and that the inclusion of OBE measurements further improves the compensation performance.  However, compensation remains challenging during certain diving maneuvers, likely due to changes in the platform's magnetic signature caused by thruster activation. No reliable speed estimates could be achieved using the compensated magnetometer measurements and the investigated linear speed-estimation method.

ervical cancer is in most cases caused by an HPV infection, where cell changes risk developing into a cancerous tumour. Screening for cell changes aims to detect early signs of cancer in order to reduce the risk of the progressing of the disease. In Sweden, women aged 23 to 64 receive free screening, either through a home test or via a gynecological examination. Despite this, almost one in five women do not participate. The purpose of this study is to examine how graphic campaign material can be designed to increase the willingness to undergo cervical screening. The target group consists of women/people with a uterus aged 23–40 living in Sweden. This includes both those who have recently been invited to their first screening and those in age groups where the risk of cervical cancer is highest. The study began with a preliminary pilot survey sent to the target group, in which participants answered general questions about their experiences and visual associations related to cervical screening, as well as the structure of the questionnaire. The work continued in three parts: a visual analysis of existing campaigns, a main survey directed at the target group based on insights from the preliminary study, and a design process where these insights were translated into a visual concept. The design work generated three visual concepts, and the final concept was selected through a form sent to participants who had agreed to take part in the next step. The majority chose the concept “Skip the chair, the top (swab) choice for you”, which highlights home testing as a simple and reassuring alternative. The campaign material was designed using soft colours, rounded shapes, and an illustrated home environment to reduce barriers and negative associations. The design emphasises simplicity through minimal information and clear instructions. The visual approach is based on the theoretical framework, where nudging and the Health Belief Model were combined with defined effect goals to reduce perceived barriers, reinforce benefits, and act as a visual cue to action. The study shows that graphic design can be a tool for influencing motivation to implement cervical screening by reducing anxiety, increasing feelings of safety, and visualising the home test option. For future research, it is recommended that the campaign material be tested in practice to evaluate its actual behavioural impact.

This thesis examines how practising interaction designers experience working with large language models in their design work. Six qualitative semi-structured interviews with senior and mid-career designers were analysed using codebook thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021), with a theoretical frame drawn from Schön's reflective practice, Polanyi's tacit knowledge, Hutchins's distributed cognition, and Dingemanse et al.'s figure-ground reframing of the cognitive sciences. Three themes were developed in the analysis: judgement and tacit knowledge; agency and control; artefacts, documentation and role identity. Across all three themes the central finding is one of spread rather than convergence. The designers articulate six distinct positions on control, six distinct positions on professional identity, and several different framings of the human–AI relation. The variation indicates that AI use does not determine designer experience; what is experienced depends on how the designer configures the work, allocates attention across human and AI activity, and maintains the practices through which professional expertise is built. The study contributes a relational reading of AI in design practice; AI as a relational medium-partner — that names a relation the existing vocabulary of tool and colleague does not adequately capture. A more precise terminological framing is identified as a direction for further work. Implications are discussed for design education, for the reproduction of tacit professional knowledge, and for further empirical work on AI-mediated practice.

Detta examensarbete är en systematisk litteraturstudie med syfte att sammanställa forskningsresultat som har undersökt elevers uppfattning av teknik samt faktorer som påverkar intresse och motivation för ämnet utifrån ett genusperspektiv. På grund av den begränsade mängd forskning som finns om teknikundervisningen i yngre åldrar, har vi inkluderat studier som undersöker dessa aspekter i målgruppen 6 till14 år. Metoden som används för att analysera och sammanställa artiklarnas resultat är tematisk analys och PICO-metoden. Resultatet visar att elevers uppfattning har en relation till motivation och intresse som i sin tur påverkas av personliga faktorer såsom självförtroende, lärarens sätt att undervisa och skolböcker som inte är könsneutrala. Enligt forskning begränsas många elevers uppfattningar om vad teknik är till att vara elektriska artefakter och någonting som inte har funnits tidigare i historien. Det framgår även av resultatet att flickor har en tendens att uppfatta teknik som maskulint.

After a long period of low interest rates, Swedish households have faced a rapid increase in interest rates, making it relevant to examine how monetary policy changes affect households' economic assessments. This thesis aims to examine how Swedish consumer confidence is affected by expansionary and contractionary interest rate shocks, and whether the response differs between younger and older households. The study also analyses how media coverage of economic policy uncertainty affects sentiment, as well as whether interest rate shocks are reflected in households' actual consumption. The analysis is based on monthly data for the period 2004–2025 and is estimated using local projections (LP), where one-month SEK overnight index swap (STINA) is used as an instrument to identify unexpected monetary policy shocks. The results show that contractionary interest rate shocks initially affect consumer confidence more strongly than expansionary shocks. This may indicate a short-term asymmetry in households' responses, which can be related to assumption of loss aversion in prospect theory. At the same time, only limited differences are found between younger and older households, although younger households display a somewhat more volatile response over time. 

The study also finds that media coverage, measured by the economic policy uncertainty index (EPU), has relatively limited effects on consumer confidence compared with the interest rate shocks. This suggests that households' economic assessments are influenced more by actual monetary policy changes than by reporting on economic and political uncertainty. The results for consumption further show that responses vary across consumption categories. Motor vehicle and restaurant sales display clearer response patterns than more necessary consumption, such as food. This indicates that the effects of interest rate shocks differ across consumption categories and are more pronounced for more interest-sensitive consumption. 

The study contributes to the literature on the transmission of monetary policy by analysing asymmetric effects on consumer confidence. By also considering age differences, media coverage and actual consumption, the study provides a broader understanding of how monetary policy affects Swedish households' economic assessments and behaviour.

Graphene-coated textiles are attracting increasing interest due to their electrical conductivity, flexibility, and durability, making them promising materials for wearable electronics, energy storage, and smart fabrics. However, the influence of graphene loading on the overall performance of textile substrates remains insufficiently explored. In this study, flax textiles were coated with controlled amounts of graphene using a sustainable process and systematically characterized. Raman spectroscopy and FE-SEM analyses confirmed uniform graphene deposition, while TGA enabled quantification of the graphene loading. FTIR results indicated that the chemical structure of the flax fibers remained preserved after coating. The graphene layer modified the surface properties, transforming the textile from hydrophilic to hydrophobic and slowing its natural biodegradation. Electrical conductivity increased with graphene content, with a sharp transition occurring above 2 wt%, where the fabric became conductive. At approximately 3 wt% graphene, the textile exhibited excellent electrothermal heating performance, reaching 180 °C under an applied voltage of 20 V. Photothermal experiments showed that the temperature increased to about 70 °C after 5 minutes of solar exposure. This temperature rise was sufficient to induce a bactericidal effect under sunlight, effectively inhibiting bacterial growth. These results demonstrate that controlled graphene deposition can effectively tailor the multifunctional properties of flax textiles, combining flexibility, environmental sustainability, and efficient thermal management. Such materials show strong potential for applications in solar-heated garments, self-disinfecting fabrics, and solar-driven water purification.

Let K be a field containing Q, let Γ be the ring of all functions N⁺ → K under Dirichlet convolution, and let Γ_n be its truncation to functions supported on [1, n]. In [9] it was shown that Γ_n is a polynomial ring modulo a monomial ideal In which is stable after reversing the order of the variables, and the Poincaré–Betti series of Γ_n was computed in terms of the numbers C_n,v of minimal generators of I_n of least support v.

We prove that C_n,v = Φ(n, p_v), Legendre’s sifting function: the number of integers in [1, n] free of prime factors ≤ p_v. This identifies an invariant of a minimal free resolution with a classical object of sieve theory. As consequences we obtain: a proof of Conjecture 4.6 of [9], which was left open there; the average order C_n ∼ π(n)²/2 of the total number of minimal generators, showing that the lower bound C_n ≥ of [9] is asymptotically sharp, together with the exact order C_n − ∼ (16/3) n^3/2 / log³n of the error; and the identification of C_n with the OEIS sequence A182843. We also record errata for [9]: one stated result is false, and two proofs are incomplete. Corrected statements and complete proofs are given.

Academic integrity depends on the accuracy of scholarly references. When referencesare fabricated, the credibility of a paper cannot be established, and the chain of knowledgethat connects new work to existing research breaks down. This creates a growing crisis oftrust, particularly as it becomes harder to distinguish carefully researched bibliographiesfrom those that were generated automatically.Students are increasingly using AI writing tools to assist with editing, cleaning updrafts, and finishing background sections. During this process, it can easily happen thatthe AI hallucinates inventing references that look real but point to publications that do notexist. In other cases, students rely on AI entirely for background research. Given the largenumber of references such tools can generate in a short time, it becomes practically impossible for supervisors and reviewers to verify them manually. Each reference must includethe author names, title, year, publication venue, and Digital Object Identifier (DOI), and allof these details must be correct. A single fabricated or corrupted entry can pass unnoticedthrough standard checks yet undermine the reliability of the entire work.We present BIBVERIFY, a fully automated agentic system that addresses this challenge.BIBVERIFY reads reference files in BibTeX format, verifies each entry against authoritativedatabases through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), and classifies them as valid, partiallyvalid, or invalid. It primarily uses the DBLP Computer Science Bibliography, with GoogleScholar as a fallback for references not covered by DBLP. For partially valid entries, it applies conservative, evidence-based corrections without any human involvement. Unlike aplain MCP agent that simply retrieves database records, BIBVERIFY combines structuredretrieval with LLM-based reasoning to detect subtle field-level errors such as misspelledauthor names, wrong years, or invalid DOIs that a lookup alone would miss.To assess the effectiveness of this approach, performance is evaluated across classification accuracy, issue detection, correction success rate, field-level accuracy for attributessuch as author names, titles, and DOIs, and overall runtime. Three prompting strategies zero-shot, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and chain-of-thought, are comparedacross different language models.

This thesis investigates the practical challenges and benefits of introducing Nix as an environment layer in a large, Bazel-based industrial C++ codebase. Using an Ericsson migration as the primary case study, supplemented by smaller controlled open-source experiments, the work evaluates migration cost, reproducibility gains, and interoperabilityfailures that arise when declarative environment management meets legacy build infrastructure. Empirical results show that Nix improves reproducibility and dependency transparency in controlled settings, but that hybrid industrial environments reveal recurrent boundary problems: Bazel sandbox visibility, interactions with rules_foreign_cc and Autotools, ABI mismatches with host libraries, and wrapper scripts that reset the environment. The thesis presents a taxonomy of migration barriers, a reproducibility baseline from controlled experiments, and practical guidance for mitigation. The findings highlight that migration difficulty is driven less by repository size and more by architectural boundary entanglement, and they provide actionable recommendations for teams aiming to adopt Nix in large, long-lived software projects.

Drawing on interviews with ten preschool principals who recruit, mentor, and evaluatepreschool teachers, this study examines how playfulness is conceptualized as a professionalcompetence within early childhood education and care (ECEC) practice. In SwedishECEC, play and teaching are conceptualized as intertwined processes, and co-play ispositioned as a central pedagogical approach that requires both personal dispositions andongoing professional development. The study highlights the importance of integratingplayfulness into ECEC teacher education in order to strengthen future teachers’ capacityto co-play with children and engage in play-based teaching practices on children’s terms.The findings also suggest that professional playfulness emerges as a multifaceted andcontext-dependent competence, shaped by institutional conditions as well as individualorientations towards play and teaching. By foregrounding leadership perspectives, thestudy contributes to ongoing discussions on the role of play in ECEC and emphasizes theneed for deliberate efforts to support the development of professional playfulness in bothpractice and teacher education.

The dog has been domesticated in close contact with humans and shaped by artificial selection to meet human needs. Today the dog is often left at home alone, which has contributed to separation-related problems in many dogs. One of many ways to decrease a dogs’ stress-related behavior during separation is sound enrichment. This study investigated if nature sounds during separation could lead to a calmer dog. A total of 20 dogs were examined in the hallway of their own home, where they were left alone once in silence and once while nature sounds were playing. The owners completed Canine Behavioral Assessment & Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ), a validated form about their dogs behaviors. The behavioral results showed no significant changes in behavior between sound enrichment and silence treatment, even if a visual inspection indicated improvements with nature sounds. However, we did find a significant correlation between stress-related behaviors and the dog's age, where a higher age led to less stress-related behaviors. In addition, dogs with higher C-BARQ scores for attachment and attention-seeking towards their owners showed a significant decrease in stress-related behaviours following exposure to sound enrichment. Thus, these findings suggest that nature sound enrichment may be a promising way of decreasing separation-related behaviors in dogs that do not suffer from separation anxiety or severe separation problems, especially for dogs with a higher degree of attachment and attention-seeking. Sound enrichment can be a great addition to decrease discomfort with separation and increase a general calmness, but should not be seen as a cure to separation-related problems.

Lanthanide ions exhibit characteristic emission originating from intra-4⁢𝑓 transitions. Among them, hypersensitive transitions (HSTs) are distinguished by their pronounced spectral tunability. Conventional HST emitters typically rely on dilute doping and host-to-4⁢𝑓 charge transfer, which are often limited by defect-induced quenching and transfer losses. Here, we observe a highly efficient HST channel independent of a host-to-4⁢𝑓 transfer in undoped, intrinsically luminescent europium-based double perovskites, and we identify the mechanisms that govern both the enhancement and loss of HST efficiency. In this system, a thermally activated doubly degenerate phonon mode of the Eu−Cl6 octahedra relaxes the parity selection rule, thereby strengthening the HST emission. The HST oscillator strength is enhanced by a factor of 2–3 relative to that of the magnetic-dipole transition. Direct excitation into the 5𝐿𝐽 level bypasses reverse energy transfer and yields a maximum quantum efficiency of nearly 70%. These findings provide insights into the design of efficient and spectrally tunable emission in lanthanide systems.

The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers describe the mathematical knowledge from primary school that is important for students' success in secondary school mathematics. The study was conducted using a qualitative method and is based on semi-structured interviews with six mathematics teachers from primary and secondary school. The results show that conceptual understanding, number sense, and an understanding of algebraic relationships are particularly important for students’ continued learning in mathematics. The teachers also described that students may encounter difficulties when mathematics becomes more abstract and when gaps in fundamental mathematical knowledge carry over into secondary school. The study also shows that collaboration between teachers, early identification of learning difficulties, and a clear progression in teaching are important factors in providing students with a strong foundation in mathematics and facilitating the transition from primary to secondary school.

Manual order picking in conveyor-based warehouses is sensitive to flow imbalances: small changes in release sequencing or local congestion can trigger extra handling, increased worker movements, and longer throughput times. This thesis developed a discrete-event simulation model to analyze such a system and to compare alternative control and staffing strategies without disrupting daily operations. The model was implemented in Simio and primarily driven by historical operational data extracted from a warehouse management system, complemented by site observations and interviews. Verification and validation were conducted through logical checks, reasonableness assessments, sensitivity testing, and reviews with domain experts. The validation focus was on supporting reliable comparative scenario analysis rather than predicting an exact time for the staff to finish all the orders that day. Three experiment areas were evaluated: (1) a balanced order-release approach using a Round Robin sequencing principle, (2) staffing logic and flexibility, including how frequently workers may be reassigned between stations and zones and a comparison between model-estimated and observed staffing, and (3) a structural constraint limiting the maximum number of station visits per box. Results indicated that Round Robin sequencing produced small throughput-time differences overall, with occasional reductions in movement- and handling-related measures. Increased staffing flexibility did not consistently improve performance and in several cases coincided with more movement and handling effort. Limiting the number of station visits per box produced the clearest performance changes in the model, generally reducing throughput time and handling-related workload under stricter limits.

Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen och kunskapen om hur personalen på svenska fritidshem säger sig arbeta med utvärdering, bedömning, kvalitetssäkring och systematiskt kvalitetsarbete av fritidshemmet. Syftet med studien är också att undersöka om fritidshemmen säger sig använda någon specifik metod i arbetet runt bedömning och utvärdering av verksamheten. För att undersöka detta och svara på frågeställningarna har det inledningsvis genomförts kvalitativa enkäter med frisvars frågor samt kompletterande kvalitativa uppföljningsintervjuer med fyra av personerna som svarade på enkäten. Datainsamlingen har analyserats utifrån teorin sociokulturella perspektivet och med fokus på sociokulturella begrepp som är relevant för studien. 

Resultatet av studien visar att fritidshemmen i stor utsträckning använder sig av lokala egenutvecklade metoder för bedömningen och utvärderingen av verksamheten. Arbetet kopplat till utvärderingarna sker både i formella sammanhang likt planeringar och fritidsråd men utvärderingarna sker också informellt i den dagliga verksamheten genom aktiva iakttagelser och via samtal med eleverna. Resultatet indikerar att elevinflytandet är en central del av kvalitetsarbetet men resultatet pekar även på att detta genomförs på olika sätt och med det kan utmaningar uppstå i delaktigheten och tryggheten hos eleverna. Resultatet visar också att det finns brister i uppföljningen och återkopplingen av utvärderingarna och dessutom upplevs förutsättningarna som begränsade i tid, planering och reflektion. Detta kan påverka i huruvida resultaten faktiskt används i det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet. I studiens resultat anser de anställda i fritidshemmen att hög kvalitet i fritidshemmet handlar om trygghet, att eleverna ska må bra och att eleverna erbjuds en meningsfull fritid. Faktorer för att uppnå hög kvalitet och bedriva ett kvalitetsarbete enligt de som arbetar i fritidshemmen är struktur, tydliga mål samt organisatoriska förutsättningar. Avslutningsvis visar studien att det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet i fritidshemmen är en komplex fråga och en kontextberoendeprocess som kräver de anställdas professionella omdöme och elevinflytandes funktion. De anställda i fritidshem indikerar på att utvecklade strukturer och förbättrade förutsättningar skulle stärka arbetet med kvalitetssäkringen och arbetet runt det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet.