The aim of this study is to examine upper secondary school students' understanding of lived religion and religious identity after conducting student-led interviews with religious practitioners in RE. Furthermore, the study analyzes the didactic potential of this method in the challenging of stereotypes and promoting students' existential self-reflection. The study relied on a qualitative methodology, utilizing interviews with five students who participated in the teaching module, followed by a thematic analysis of the collected data. The theoretical framework combines Robert Jackson’s interpretive approach with Meredith McGuire's sociological perspective on lived religion.

The findings indicated that the student-led interviews successfully challenged and deconstructed students' initial expectations of religious individuals as strict and rule-oriented. Through the encounter, the students’ understanding of religious identity expanded and deepened, from initially viewing it as a static institutional obligation to understanding it as a dynamic, fluid, and interpretative process of identity construction. Additionally, the method fostered a process of edification, where students critically reflected on their own previous positions and expressed didactic critique against traditional textbook representations for lacking humanization and individual perspectives. However, the study also identifies a didactic dilemma where secular individualism may act as a filter of understanding and acceptance. This risks leading to the assimilation of lived religion into a norm of Western autonomy in order to make it comprehensible for secular non-religious students, thereby overshadowing the actual influence of the religious tradition and community.

Konsumtionskrediterna har nästan fördubblats de senaste 15 åren och betalningsföreläggandena har ökat i motsvarande grad, trots att konsumentkreditlagen sedan år 2010 uttryckligen syftat till att motverka överskuldsättning. I takt med digitaliseringen har banker och kreditinstitut i allt högre grad börjat använda automatiserade system vid kreditprövning, vilket aktualiserar frågan om hur dessa system förhåller sig till lagens krav.

I uppsatsen undersöks hur automatiserat beslutsfattande förhåller sig till reglerna om kreditprövning och god kreditgivningssed samt vilken påverkan föreslagna ändringar i konsumentkreditlagen kan få. Undersökningen bygger huvudsakligen på en rättsdogmatisk metod, kompletterad med en empirisk del.

Automatiserade kreditbeslut är inte principiellt oförenliga med gällande rätt. Det avgörande är prövningens innehåll snarare än dess form, och ett välutformat system kan uppfylla kraven i 12 § KkrL. Däremot är det svårt att se hur ett fullt automatiserat system kan leva upp till samtliga krav som följer av god kreditgivningssed, särskilt förklarings- och avrådningsskyldigheten. Artikel 22 GDPR och EU-domstolens avgörande i SCHUFA-målet utgör därutöver ett parallellt rättsligt ramverk som kreditgivare måste förhålla sig till självständigt.

Den nya konsumentkreditlagen i prop. 2025/26:223 innebär en påtaglig skärpning av regelverket, men löser inte de underliggande strukturella problemen. Överskuldsättningsproblematiken är resultatet av ett samspel mellan flera aktörer och faktorer. Kreditgivare har haft incitament att bevilja krediter med osäker återbetalningsförmåga, kreditupplysningsföretag kan inte tillhandahålla ett heltäckande informationsunderlag till följd av lagstiftningens begränsningar, och konsumenter tar ibland krediter utan tillräcklig förståelse för de ekonomiska konsekvenserna. En fungerande kreditmarknad med ett reellt konsumentskydd förutsätter att samtliga dessa aktörer tar sitt ansvar, något som lagstiftningen ensam inte kan säkerställa.

The rapid emergence of Artificial Intelligence technologies on the market has led to accelerated electricity consumption within the data center sector. This increase has placed pressure on national grids and extended timelines for securing electricity connections. Increasing grid queue times and price uncertainty have placed greater pressure on decision makers to find alternative electricity procurement strategies for data centers. This master's thesis explores how the rapid energy demand growth is altering energy sourcing decision making for data centers in Sweden and how these new potential challenges can be handled. 

This thesis adopts a mixed-methods research approach with both qualitative and quantitative insights. The qualitative data was gathered through structured and semi-structured interviews with a diverse set of professionals as respondents. Quantitatively, the study applied multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) models like VIKOR (Vise Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Rešenje) and TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity) to analyze different energy sourcing alternatives based on a specific set of criteria. The MCDM models were applied on both data from a pre-AI-induced electricity demand scenario (2019) and current data, to analyze shifts in decision making priorities. 

The findings show that risks associated with energy sources for data centers are increasing. Relying strictly on connecting to the grid via spot market pricing is becoming a less viable option. Future regulatory uncertainties connected to risks related to price and power delivery are making other alternatives increasingly attractive. Risk mitigating strategies like Power Purchasing Agreements (PPAs) are becoming more viable due to their ability to reduce price- and regulatory risks. Additionally, the study points to a shift from isolated energy sourcing strategies for data centers towards collaborative approaches with multiple actors. Data centers can strengthen their resilience by focusing on strategies that enhance public acceptance, such as supporting new renewable energy projects or utilizing excess heat for district heating. Strategies with backup power technologies can become increasingly important to reduce peak stress on the grid. Lastly, this thesis shows how MCDM can help decision makers compare and evaluate different energy sourcing strategies to make more informed decisions. This study contributes to research on decision making in the field of energy sourcing for data centers and risk management in energy sourcing, and strategic management during periods of rapid technological disruption. Specifically, the study advances these fields by demonstrating how MCDM methods can be applied to structure and compare energy sourcing alternatives under conditions of high uncertainty. By applying the models across both a pre-AI demand scenario (2019) and a current scenario (2025), the study provides a structured comparison of how decision-making priorities have shifted in response to AI-driven energy growth. Furthermore, the study contributes by examining how social acceptance and societal value creation are becoming structural factors in energy sourcing strategy for data centers in the Swedish market. 

Background: Sustainability reporting has become increasingly important in corporate external communication, while regulatory requirements regarding transparency and comparability have intensified. The transition from voluntary sustainability reporting under the NFRD to more regulated reporting through the CSRD has created new conditions for how companies communicate sustainability. Previous research has primarily focused on textual sustainability reporting, whereas visual sustainability communication and its development over time have received less attention.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how companies’ visual strategic sustainability communication changes as sustainability reporting transitions from voluntary to mandatory regulation.

Method: The study applies a qualitative longitudinal content analysis with a deductive approach. The empirical material consists of primary data generated through the study’s own collection, coding and analysis of sustainability reports from four Nordic listed fashion companies: H&M, Lindex, Boozt and Marimekko during the period 2017-2025. Visual elements including photographs, tables, diagrams, graphs and illustrations were coded and analysed relative to the number of sustainability pages to enable comparison between companies and years. The analysis is interpreted through impression management, legitimacy theory, institutional theory and the analytical perspectives “looking at”, “looking through” and “looking behind” (Chong et al., 2019).

Conclusion: The findings indicate that companies’ visual sustainability communication changes in response to increasing regulatory requirements related to the transition from NFRD to CSRD. Several companies give greater relative emphasis to tables, graphs and governance-related visualisations in sustainability communication. The study therefore shows that standardisation does not eliminate strategic sustainability communication but rather transforms how sustainability is communicated visually.

Management Control Systems in Production Environments: 

A Qualitative Case Study of Arla Foods' Dairy Plant in Linköping.

The purpose of this study is to examine how management control systems are used and perceived in a Northern European production environment through a qualitative case study of Arla Foods dairy in Linköping. The study analyses the MCS package drawing on Malmi and Brown’s (2008) package model and Ferreira and Otley’s (2009) framework. The study was conducted using a qualitative case study design with an abductive approach, in which three semi-structured interviews with respondents at the strategic, middle-management, and operational levels were analysed through thematic analysis.

The results show that all five control types in the package model are identifiable at the dairy. Strategic directives are translated through the LOTS process, where an institutionalised interpretive space at each level enables local adaptation without compromising vertical coherence. The legitimacy of control tools is primarily determined by the degree of influence over how a tool is used in practice, rather than by hierarchical position. The distinction between diagnostic and interactive control functions as a hierarchical gradient. The most significant frictions are structural, and cultural controls function as a situationally activated reserve system rather than a continuously active control form.

Organizations today are expected to manage multiple objectives simultaneously. For municipal energy companies, this means not only achieving economic performance but also contributing to environmental and social sustainability while creating societal value. As a result, organizations may face goal conflicts where different objectives and interests need to be balanced through management control and decision-making processes. 

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how conflicts between economic and sustainability-related goals are managed in practice within a municipal energy company, with a particular focus on how this management is reflected in organizational control and decision-making. To fulfill this purpose, the thesis addresses four research questions concerning organizational goals, management control, goal conflicts, and the practical management of such conflicts. 

The thesis was conducted as a qualitative case study of a particular municipal energy company. Empirical data were collected through document analysis of annual reports, sustainability reports and owner directives, complemented by semi-structured interviews with a controller and division manager. The empirical material was analyzed using thematic analysis and interpreted through theories of organizational goals, goal conflicts, sustainability, paradoxes, and conflict management. 

The findings indicate that the organization operates with multiple parallel goals, including economic, environmental, social, and societal objectives. These goals are monitored through a combination of financial and sustainability-related performance measures. Goal conflicts primarily emerge in situations involving resource allocation, investments, and long-term sustainability initiatives. 

At the same time, the results suggest that goal conflicts are rarely managed through strict prioritization of one objective over another. Instead, the organization relies on dialogue, collaboration, and continuous trade-offs to balance competing objectives. Economic and sustainability-related goals therefore appear to be both conflicting and mutually dependent. 

The thesis contributes to the literature by demonstrating how conflicts between economic and sustainability-related goals are managed in practice within a municipal energy company. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the relationship between these goals is better understood as a process of goal balancing rather than a series of isolated goal conflicts. The study therefore contributes to a deeper understanding of how organizations can manage multiple objectives simultaneously within a complex societal context.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the components of individual creativity in a project environment and analyse how they are affected when generative AI is utilized. Theresa M. Amabile's Componential Theory of Creativity (1988) is used as the foundation for the theoretical framework. 

Research question: How is individual creativity affected by utilizing generative AI in a project environment? 

Methodology: This thesis employs a qualitative approach to gain nuanced insights into how generative AI tools affect individual creativity. Four semi-structured interviews were conducted with project managers through purposive sampling. The findings were analysed using thematic analysis to uncover recurring themes, similarities, and differences across the interviews. 

Results: The empirical findings of this thesis show that the relationship is complex, as there is no consensus on how AI affects individual creativity in project environments. Similarities can be drawn across the empirical data, it ultimately depends on the individual's professional and personal experience with generative AI and its effects on individual creativity in a project environment. 

Contributions: This thesis has addressed a research gap regarding the relationship between AI, projects, and creativity in a systematic way. The findings provide project managers and organizations with insights into how generative AI tools affect individual components of creativity, highlighting both the opportunities and risks of integrating them into project-based work.

Precise estimations of energy consumption are important for range prediction in Heavy-Duty Battery Electric Vehicles (HDBEVs), which enables more efficient route planning. One significant contributor to energy consumption is the rolling resistance, commonly modeled as proportional to the vehicle load through the Rolling Resistance Coefficient (RRC). In this thesis, the RRC is instead estimated dynamically using eight different Physics-Informed Neural Network (PINN) approaches. The models were trained on data from real-world trips and evaluated against two experimental benchmark setups from an earlier study, where the RRC is measured under controlled conditions. Starting from a baseline PINN from different prior work, the impact of incorporating tyre temperature and tyre temperature relations were investigated, along with the addition of a time-series architecture based on Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks. Using tyre temperature as an output feature, together with additional relations in the loss function, did not improve the RRC estimation. In contrast, including tyre temperature as an input feature improved the results, achieving Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) values of 8.89 % and 12.3 % for the two benchmarks. Incorporating an LSTM architecture into the original method stabilized the RRC estimations but resulted in static outputs for the RRC. Combining tyre temperature as an input with an LSTM architecture further reduced the MAPE to 8.33 % and 26.9 %, but introduced irregular behavior during sudden velocity changes, which significantly reduced the correlation in one of the benchmarks.

GenAI is increasingly becoming part of everyday organizational work. However, many organizations are still in the process of developing formal policies covering GenAI use. This creates a managerial challenge: employees are expected to use GenAI responsibly, even without clear rules. The purpose of this study was therefore to examine how organizations in Sweden use cultural control mechanisms to guide, regulate, and shape employees’ use of generative AI in daily work, while also identifying the challenges that arise during early-stage AI adoption. The study was guided by the following research question: How do organizations in Sweden employ cultural control mechanisms to guide, regulate, and shape employees’ use of generative AI in daily work practices, with particular attention to challenges arising in early-stage AI adoption? To support this, the study focused on values, norms, socialization, and challenges related to GenAI use. 

The study was conducted through a qualitative research strategy based on semi-structured interviews with five managers from Swedish organizations in early stages of AI adoption. The analysis was guided by Merchant & Van der Stede’s (2017) cultural control framework. This was complemented by Simons’ (1995) concept of belief systems and research on informal controls by Malek et al. (2022) and Einhorn et al. (2024). 

The interviews suggest that when formal AI policies are still limited, cultural controls appear to play an important role in guiding how employees understand responsible GenAI use. Values, norms, and socialization shape employees’ understanding of appropriate use of GenAI, but this also creates challenges related to limited control, unclear guidelines, and knowledge gaps. The study contributes to research on MCS by applying cultural control theory to early-stage GenAI adoption. The study suggests that cultural controls can guide employee behavior but also that they may be insufficient on their own. Therefore, this study points to the need to combine these cultural controls with clearer guidance, learning initiatives, and formal GenAI policies. 

Simulation is often used when developing autonomous aircraft, since it makes it possible to run the same scenario several times and inspect parts of the system that would be difficult to see during real flight. However, it can be hard for engineers to understand why an autonomous aircraft behaved in a certain way, especially when relevant information is spread between logs, spatial views, internal states, and decision logic. This thesis investigates how visualisation can support analysis of internal autonomy processes in autonomous aircraft simulation. The work was done in three steps: two pre-study group interviews with engineers, development of a visualisation prototype, and a qualitative evaluation using simulation scenarios. The prototype was built with ROS2, Gazebo, PX4, RViz, and Behaviour Trees. It combines a spatial view of the aircraft and mission with visualisation of Behaviour Tree execution and selected internal values. The results suggest that the most useful support came from combining several views rather than from one single visual element. In the evaluation, the participants used the spatial view, Behaviour Tree viewer, and Behaviour Tree heads-up display together when reasoning about both normal and anomalous behaviour. Without the internal visualisation, they could still make reasonable guesses about possible errors, but had less support for checking those guesses. The study is exploratory and limited, but indicates that visualising internal autonomy states can make simulation-based analysis more grounded and less dependent on unsupported assumptions.

Under 2025 har Johanna Sjöberg och Yelyzaveta Hrechaniuk vid Tema Barn bedrivit ett utvecklingsarbete av uppdragsutbildning avsedd för yrkesverksamma som på olika sätt arbetar med kultur och konsumtion med barn som målgrupp. Avsikten har varit att förberedelserna ska göra att Tema Barn vid en förfrågan snabbt ska kunna erbjuda skräddarsydda kurser såväl som en öppen färdigdesignad kurs inom området barn, kultur och konsumtion. Genom kursinnehållet ska yrkesverksamma kunna reflektera över sin egen och barns roll och på så vis bidra till en etisk konsumtionskultur kring barn.

Kursutvecklingsarbetet har koncentrerats kring att specificera målgruppen för sådana kurser, undersöka dess intresse och behov av vidareutbildning samt förstå kring vilken inriktning och omfång på kurs som skulle kunna vara efterfrågad. Arbetet genomfördes med hjälp av en enkät och intervjuer. Fjorton företag, med god spridning vad gäller intresseområde och storlek svarade på enkäten. Intervjuer gjordes med fyra företagsrepresentanter kopplade till ett leksaksföretag, ett eventföretag, ett leklandsföretag och ett spel/appföretag. Därtill intervjuades representanter för branschorganisationerna Leksaksbranschen och Dataspelsbranschen. För att få ett konsumentperspektiv på vad företag som vänder sig till barn borde lära sig mer om genomfördes även en intervju med representanter för konsumentorganisationen Sveriges konsumenter.

Intresset för uppdragsutbildning visade sig vara lågt. Områden där det ändå finns utrymme för vidareutbildning är ”familjekonsumtion och barn som konsumenter”, ”design, visualitet och materialitet” samt ”etik, lag och regelverk”. Ett ytterligare resultat är att såväl företagsrepresentanterna som representanterna för organisationerna önskade förstå mer om barn och konsumtion i väldigt specifika frågor, frågor som ligger nära deras egna verksamheter.

Utifrån dessa resultat presenterar rapporten förslag på kursinnehåll inklusive förslag på upplägg och arbetsformer för uppdragsutbildning i form av korta digitala modulbaserade distansutbildningar. Därtill finns förslag på skräddarsydda uppdragsutbildningar där även forskningsuppdrag ingår som förberedelse för kursmomenten.

Rapporten är avsedd att fungera som underlag och avstamp för fortsatt utveckling av uppdragsutbildningskurser inom det aktuella ämnet. Den tänkta läsgruppen för rapporten är således medarbetare på Tema Barn. För det syftet är även de bilagor som ligger i slutet på rapporten väsentliga, då de innehåller litteraturlistor och uppslag för kursmoment.

On July 1, 2025, a reform came into force that reduced the alcohol excise tax for independent small breweries in Sweden, with the stated aim of improving their economic conditions. This study examines the extent to which the tax reduction remained with the breweries or was passed on to consumers in the form of lower consumer prices. The analysis is based on monthly sales data from Systembolaget for the period January 2024 to December 2025 and uses a difference-in-differences model comparing breweries receiving the full 50 percent tax reduction with breweries not covered by the reform. The results provide no evidence that the tax reduction was passed on to consumers in the form of lower consumer prices, but rather indicate that consumer prices remained largely unchanged. The results are consistent with previous literature on sluggish pricing among smaller firms, product differentiation, inelastic demand, and asymmetric pass-through following tax reductions.

This thesis examines how the level and trend of gold prices change in connection with four selected global crises: the 1973 OPEC-crisis, the dotcom-bubble, the 2008 financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The study is based on earlier research and the perception of gold as a safe haven asset. Against this background, two hypotheses were formulated: (1) that gold prices experience a positive level shift at the start of a crisis, and (2) that the trend of gold prices decreases after a crisis compared with the crisis trend.

The thesis uses a quantitative research design in the form of segmented regression analysis to analyse an interrupted time series. The data material consists of inflation-adjusted daily closing gold prices expressed in USD per troy ounce, with prices deflated using the consumer price index. Each crisis is analysed using 12 months before the crisis, the entire crisis period, and 12 months after the crisis. For more reliable inferences with regard to autocorrelation, Newey-West robust standard errors were applied to the model.  

The results show that the thesis’ first hypothesis is not generally supported. Of the four selected crises, only the COVID-19 pandemic exhibits a statistically significant positive level shift at the start of the crisis, while the OPEC-crisis and the dotcom bubble exhibit statistically significant negative level shifts.

The second hypothesis is also not generally supported. The OPEC-crisis is the only crisis that exhibits a statistically significant negative trend change after the end of the crisis period. This is in contrast to the dotcom bubble and the 2008 Financial Crisis, which exhibit positive, but not statistically significant, trend changes. The results therefore indicate that gold prices do not follow a uniform pattern across crises.

Overall, the results of the thesis show that the reaction of real gold prices during global crises varies depending on the character, duration, and economic context of the crisis. The results therefore suggest that gold can, in some cases, act as a safe haven asset, but that the relationship between global crises and gold prices is more complex than the general perception suggests. However, the results should be interpreted with caution since other factors, such as monetary policy and simultaneous global events, may also affect gold prices. The thesis therefore identifies correlations rather than causal relationships. 

AbstractIn recent decades, the Premier League has developed from a national football league to aglobal billion-dollar industry where wealthy owners invest huge sums in pursuit of sportingsuccess. The study examines whether clubs can invest in their way to the top by analyzing 11clubs that have continuously played in the top league for seven seasons. Focus variables aresalary costs, transfer costs and coach changes and their impact on the number of pointsrecorded.Our analysis shows a pattern where salary costs are the single most important factor forsporting success. There is a strong and statistical correlation that shows that the more a clubinvests in wages, the more points a club picks on average. This is explained by what is knownas efficiency salaries, by paying players more than their market value, the club not only buysexcellence, but also the players full loyalty and motivation.In contrast to the stable effect of salaries, the study shows that large investments in playerpurchases do not guarantee more points at all. Although newspaper headlines often focus onbillion-dollar signings, the correlation between transfer expenditures and points taken isuncertain. One explanation is that the expensive player often possesses great technical skillbut lacks the specific understanding of the new team's game system. Since there are a limitednumber of points to play for in the league, there is a diminishing margin return, as a club mayalready have a strong squad, each new star signing has less and less effect on the number ofpoints.When it comes to organizational changes, specifically coaching changes during the currentseason, our data shows that these rarely have the desired effect. Instead, coaching changestend to be associated with a decline in points. What can also be deciphered is that the clubsthat perform best have continuity and long-term thinking in their leadership.Overall, the study shows that success in the Premier League is not achieved through shortterm panic measures, but through strategic and long-term investments in player squad salariesand organizational stability. This will be a balance for clubs to relate to the regulations thatare to be followed.

Contemporary urban planning is often characterized by day-normative governance, where the night is frequently marginalized and reduced to issues of safety and noise. This study examines how nocturnal dimensions are integrated into municipal planning, focusing on Norrköping and the role of culture in activating nocturnal urban space. The study is based on a qualitative approach, combining document analysis and semi-structured interviews. These methods are used to analyze how strategic ambitions are realized in practice, where the interviews and documents complement each other by providing a nuanced understanding of the research problem. In this context, night-time governance is used as a theoretical and analytical framework to highlight how the night can be strategically addressed in urban planning. By shifting the focus from the night as a source of risk and public disorder, to viewing it as a resource for culture, inclusion and economic growth, this study aims to contribute to the growing research field of urban planning research. “Kulturnatten” is used as an example of how the city can strategically engage with the night to increase attractiveness and create conditions for a sustainable extension of the city after office hours. The results show that there are strategic ambitions to create a vibrant city throughout the entire day, but there is a lack of a cohesive organizational structure to proactively integrate the dimensions of the night into contemporary urban planning. However, this study identifies a shift towards giving the night a more prominent role in planning, where temporary events such as Kulturnatten contribute to activating urban space and expanding the functions of the city.

Key Words: Night-time governance, Kulturnatten, 24-hour city, Temporary Urbanism

Balancing economic development with biodiversity conservation is a central challenge in sustainable development. Corporate sustainability frameworks such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) increasingly require corporates and investors to assess and disclose proximity to biodiversity-sensitive areas. Despite this regulatory momentum, empirical knowledge of how corporate sites are spatially distributed relative to protected areas remains limited, especially at national scale and across sectors. This thesis examines the spatial relationship between 383,571 geocoded corporate operational sites in Sweden and two key biodiversity frameworks: Natura 2000 and Key Biodiversity Areas. Using GIS-based proximity analysis, chi-square tests, Cramér's V effect sizes, and hotspot analysis, the study maps corporate proximity across sectors, corporate site sizes, and regions. Results show that approximately 13 percent of all corporate sites are located within 1 km of a Natura 2000 site, and nearly half within 3 km, indicating that proximity-based exposure is a widespread national phenomenon. Regional geography emerges as the dominant explanatory factor, while sector, corporate site size, and greenhouse gas emission intensity show statistically significance characteristics, but weak associations with proximity. Hotspot analysis identifies protected areas with highly concentrated corporate exposure, particularly in Skåne, Västra Götaland, and Norrbotten. The findings suggest that biodiversity-related spatial exposure extends across the wider economy and is not confined to traditionally high-impact sectors, with important implications for environmental governance, spatial planning, and corporate disclosure frameworks.

Placemaking as a practice has emerged as a tool to foster the development of vibrant cities, being adopted by both public and private actors. The risk, however, is that practitioners focus only on its marketing components, forgetting its participatory dimension. This thesis investigates how framing a company's placemaking strategy around the concept of place value affects practitioners' understanding and use of it. By focusing on the real case study of Sankt Kors, a municipally owned real estate company in Linköping, Sweden, this research combines mental maps and guided interviews to gather data. It sheds light on how professional backgrounds and experiences shape individuals' understandings of place value and, therefore, the implementation of placemaking. The study uncovers the role that place value can play in expanding the participatory dimension of placemaking, while identifying gaps in the practice that hinder participants. Results indicate that place value shifts attention to the life between the buildings, including a greater number of actors in the picture. However, it still fails to overcome mandate-related issues within the company's scope of business, resulting in a gap between vision creation and implementation, as well as difficulties in implementing new approaches to placemaking. Experience emerges as a key factor in shaping both individual understandings and approaches to placemaking, identifying training and dialogue as fundamental to overcoming the gap. Place value is effective in the first step of placemaking; however, it alone is insufficient to ensure placemaking’s participatory dimension, which requires further discussion, both internal and external. 

Climate change increasingly threatens livelihoods, food systems, and ecological stability in vulnerable regions, particularly in East Africa, where dependence on rain-fed agriculture and structural inequalities intensify adaptive challenges. Within climate governance, gender integration has become a central principle in adaptation policy and climate aid. However, research shows that gender mainstreaming is often implemented through simplified framing that prioritise women’s participation while overlooking deeper structural inequalities and intersectional vulnerabilities. Furthermore, shifts in global development cooperation are reshaping climate aid allocation toward geopolitical and investment-oriented priorities, raising concerns about equitable access to adaptation resources. This study aims to explore the challenges and opportunities of pursuing integrated approaches to enhance the sustainability of climate aid. It examines how climate adaptation challenges and gender integration are framed and operationalised through investigating the case of the African Biodiversity Network (ABN) and its partner organisations in East Africa. The study adopts a qualitative case study approach, combining document analysis of organisational and policy materials with semi-structured interviews conducted with representatives of partner organisations. The findings show that climate change is understood as a structural driver of livelihood vulnerability, while adaptation is framed as agroecological, community-based, and rooted in indigenous knowledge and biodiversity conservation. The study further demonstrates that climate aid operates as a political arena in which donor priorities shape adaptation pathways and influence which forms of knowledge and agricultural practices receive support. Although gender integration is recognised within organisational discourse and programming, implementation often remains limited to participation and representation. The study highlights the importance of transformative and context-sensitive approaches to climate adaptation and gender integration.

Keywords: Climate adaptation, Agroecology, Climate aid, Gender integration, Sustainability.

This thesis examines how Swedish defence and security policy discourse has been reshaped in government defence bills between 2008 and 2024, a period in which Sweden changed from extensive disarmament, to the reconstruction of the ‘total defence’ and ultimately NATO membership in 2023. Utilizing Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory, the study analyses four consecutive government defence bills (2008/09:140, 2014/15:109, 2020/21:30, and 2024/25:34) through the discourse analysis tools of nodal points, chains of equivalence, and subject positions. A qualitative coding scheme consisting of sixteen subcodes was applied systematically to the material in order to trace discursive shifts over time.

The analysis shows a continuous discursive transformation: from a demilitarised and externally oriented defence in 2008, through the reintroduction of total and civil defence as a necessity in 2014, to the broad societal mobilisation of 2020, and finally to an internationalised total defence following NATO accession in 2024. Throughout this development, threat constructions expand from geographically distant and unlikely to ongoing and ideologically borderless, while citizens, civil society and the private sector are gradually repositioned as integrated components of the total defence.

The central contribution of the study lies in identifying the discursive mechanisms that have enabled these shifts: discursive safety valves preserving institutions formally while they are dismantled in practice, the gradual expansion of what is considered a legitimate threat through equivalence chains, and the progressive reformulation of antagonism that closes the discursive space for alternative security policy positions.

The study examines how two Swedish municipalities - Linköping and Norrköping municipalities - organize and legitimize their work with crisis preparedness and civil defense. The purpose of the studies is to examine and compare the municipalities' application of the Act (2006:544) on Municipal and Regional Measures Prior to and During Extraordinary Events in Peacetime and High Levels of Preparedness. Furthermore, the purpose of the study is to test the analytical usability of the theories of security and governance in order to understand to what extent the municipalities' legitimization and organization of crisis preparedness can be explained by the theory of security and governance.  The study uses a qualitative research design and is based on a comparative case study. The empirical material consists of municipal steering documents, contingency plans, strategies, and guidelines. The results from the studies show that the municipalities' crisis preparedness is managed to an effect in accordance with the governance theory. Linköping and Norrköpings descriptions of threats and crises can also be used to understand through security, even if the security play of the theory differs between the municipalities.  The study shows that the theories complement each other, securitization contributes to understanding how threats are constructed, defined and also legitimized. While governance theory contributes to understanding how crisis preparedness is organized and implemented through network control and multi-level governance. The results of the study show that the municipalities apply the law (2006:544) relatively speaking with some differences in the application of. The study shows that Linköping and Norrköpings descriptions of threats and crises can ultimately be understood as an expression of security. The municipalities' organization of crisis preparedness is also characterized by network control and multi-level governance to an increase, where collaboration between municipal actors is central. Together, the theories contribute to providing a comprehensive picture of municipal preparedness through their two specific perspectives. 

Denna litteraturstudie undersöker hur konspirationsteorier och missinformation påverar skolan, vilka faktorer som förklarar ungas mottaglighet samt vilka didaktiska tillvägagångssätt som har prävats för att motverka problemet. Studien bygger på tio peer review-granskade artiklar från databaserna Unisearch och ERIC, publicerade mellan 2022 och 2025. Artiklarna analyserades utifrån två teoretiska perspektiv: subjektivistisk sanningsrelativism och motivated reasoning. 

Resultaten visar att konspirationsteorier förekommer regelbundet i klassrummet, särskilt på gymnasiet där ungefär två tredjedelar av lärarna har stött på elever som uttrycker stöd för sådana teorier. Faktorer som låg analytisk förmåga, subjektivistisk sanningssyn och bekräftelsebias ökar mottagligheten för missinformation. Undervisning i kritiskt tänkande och källkritik kan minska konspirationstro på kort sikt, men effekterna avtar över tid utan förstärkning. Direkt konfrontation riskerar att utlösa backfire-effekter där övertygelsen stärks. Interventioner mot missinformation kan dessutom öka generell skepticism även mot korrekt information. Studien pekar på att isolerade insatser är otillräckliga och att kritiskt tänkande behöver integreras som en återkommande del av undervisningen. 

This thesis investigates the re-identification of user equipment (UE) in LTE networks following temporary identity changes, utilizing machine learning to analyse unencrypted RNTI and TMSI metadata. Data was collected by connecting a target UE operated by the author to a real base station. Unencrypted metadata from the base station was collected using a software defined radio and data from the special UE was used to label samples as positive if they belonged to the target UE and negative if they did not. Importantly, real users were connected to the base station during collection but no user traffic was collected. Further, unencrypted metadata related to other UEs were considered negative samples and no UE other than the target UE was re-identified. This ensured the privacy and integrity of real users connected to the base station. Two machine learning models – a Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) model and a Siamese neural network model – were employed and compared for the task. The results showed that the LSTM model performed well on RNTI data, managing to detect over 90% of all samples belonging to the target UE with a precision of around 20%. The models based on Siamese neural networks performed much worse.On RNTI data, around 70% of all positive samples were detected, but the precision was only 0.09%. On TMSI data the Siamese models performed better, detecting around 90% of all positive samples with a precision of 0.45%. Not enough TMSI data was collected for training LSTM models. The thesis concludes that it may be possible to re-identify UE in LTE networks after a change of temporary identity by analysing unencrypted metadata in RNTI traffic with the use of machine learning, but that more research is needed to definitively answer.

Denna studie grundar sig i skolans ökade digitalisering och tidigare forsknings varierande resultat, gällande hur olika läsformat påverkar elevers motivation, självtillit och attityd. Syftet är att undersöka hur elever i årskurs 1 och 2 skattar sin motivation, attityd och självtillit i relation till digital respektive analog läsning, samt att identifiera likheter och skillnader mellan läsformaten och årskurserna.

De tre centrala begreppen utgör även studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter och ramverk för analysen. Genom en kvantitativ forskningsansats samlades data in via en enkätundersökning, där likertskalor kombinerades med visuella symboler anpassade för yngre elever. Totalt deltog 63 elever i årskurs 1 och 2 från tre olika skolor och det insamlade materialet analyserades med hjälp av deskriptiv statistik.

Resultatet visar att den analoga läsningen överlag skattades högre än den digitala inom samtliga områden: attityd, motivation och självtillit. Skillnaderna mellan de två läsformaten var mer framträdande i årskurs 1, där eleverna uppvisade en högre självtillit och positivare inställning till den analoga boken. I årskurs 2 var skillnaderna mellan formaten något mindre, men där identifierades en mer kritisk inställning till det digitala läsformatet när både indexet för motivation och attityd hamnade under det neutrala värdet på skalan. 

Sammanfattningsvis tyder resultatet på att både läsformat och årskurs har betydelse för elevers läsupplevelser. Studien synliggör behovet av fortsatt forskning kring hur elevers motivation till digital respektive analog läsning förändras över tid.

The diagnostic term Alzheimer's disease was coined more than a century ago to describe a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the accumulation of two types of protein aggregates in the brain: extracellular amyloid-β plaques and intracellular tau neurofibrillary tangles. Today, it is recognized as an uncurable, age-related disease and the leading cause of dementia. The hallmark protein aggregates of Alzheimer's disease can be visualized and studied in brain tissue sections using fluorescent organic probes, which can also be radiolabeled to generate positron emission tomography (PET) tracers for diagnostic applications. 

PI-2620 is a tau-selective PET tracer characterized by high affinity for tau aggregates and low off-target binding. Thiophene-based analogues of PI-2620 have previously been synthesized from phenylhydrazine and thiophene-derived substrates. Herein, seven novel analogues containing a pyridine ring in place of the phenyl moiety were synthesized and evaluated. While the unsubstituted tricyclic core scaffold lacked both fluorescence and binding to protein aggregates, all substituted analogues except one functioned as fluorescent organic probes. 

The position of the pyridine nitrogen proved crucial for protein aggregate binding, as three isomers displayed either no staining, tau-selective staining, or Aβ-selective staining. Similar effects were observed when altering the position of the sulfur atom within the tricyclic core. Binding properties were further influenced by the nature of the terminal functionality. The terminal thienyl group of an Aβ-selective probe was replaced with a 3,4-dimethoxyphenyl group for retained selectivity, whereas the corresponding analogue bearing a terminal methyl thiophene-5-carboxylate moiety stained both Aβ and tau aggregates. In total, five novel fluorescent probes were obtained, further expanding the family of thiophene-based PI-2620 analogues.

 Influencer marketing has in recent years established itself as a central marketing strategy for

many companies, while simultaneously introducing risks that have yet to be fully

problematised in existing research. This study aims to identify and analyse the risks

associated with influencer marketing, with a focus on how these risks emerge, are distributed

between influencer and brand, and what consequences they entail.

The study adopts a qualitative approach, combining a theoretical framework of three

established perspectives, principal-agent theory, spillover effects and authenticity risk. This is

combined with empirical case studies of three well-documented scandals, Balenciaga 2022,

Kanye West and Adidas 2022, and Fyre Festival 2017. Google Trends data is used as a

complementary empirical tool to concretise how attention was distributed between the parties

involved in each scandal.

The findings indicate that the risks in influencer marketing are not random or event-specific

but structurally embedded in the marketing form itself. Three interconnected mechanisms are

identified. The loss of control that arises when companies delegate brand communication to

autonomous individuals, authenticity breaches that trigger consumer reactions when

perceived genuineness is questioned, and spillover effects that distribute negative

consequences asymmetrically consistently to the detriment to the brand. The Google Trends

data empirically confirms this pattern across all three cases.

A central conclusion is that the very qualities that make influencer marketing attractive as a

strategy, such as influencers’ authenticity, close follower relationships and personal

credibility, are the same qualities that amplify the risks. There is no strategy that eliminates

this tension, which means that the risks should be understood as systematic and managed

accordingly.

The construction sector is facing a period of significant change driven by increasing regulatory and contractual demands for digital information management. EU directives such as EPBD and CPR/ESPR, alongside initiatives like AB25, are progressively raising requirements for traceability, transparency and structured building information. Despite this, BIM is currently used primarily as a coordination tool rather than as an integrated information carrier, and a clear gap exists between the industry's current working methods and the requirements expected to come into force. This study analyses how increased regulatory and contractual demands for digital information delivery affect requirements specification and working methods in the design phase, with particular focus on the digital model's role as an information carrier. The study is conducted as an embedded single-case study with the consultancy firm Plan B as the case, drawing on 13 semi-structured interviews and document studies from nine construction projects within healthcare, water and infrastructure. Through a scenario-based analysis, a minimum, medium and maximum scenario, gaps between current design practice and future requirements are identified. The findings show that design professionals generally possess the competence and tools to meet near-future requirements, but that construction and facility management operate at a considerably lower level of digital maturity. The study further demonstrates that the effectiveness of requirements specification is strongly dependent on organisational anchoring, early involvement of information managers, and clear communication of the purpose and value of the information. The role of the information manager is expected to grow in line with increasing demands, encompassing broader responsibilities including competence support, system development and data validation, as well as greater engagement in the early stages of procurement and requirements specification.

Denna studie undersöker hur tekniklärare på högstadiet beskriver att de synliggör tekniska system i undervisningen. Studien genomförs med en kvalitativ metodansats och bygger på semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta tekniklärare i årskurs 7–9 runtom i Sverige. Intervjuerna analyserades genom tematisk analys. Resultatet visar att lärare använder flera representationsformer för att göra tekniska system förståeliga och begripliga för eleverna. Bland annat är film, genomgångar med tavlan, gemensamma diskussioner, bilder, presentationer och digitala resurser återkommande teman som identifierats. Systemaspekter som synliggjordes var framför allt komponenter, delsystem, systemgränser, konsekvenser, etiska och historiska perspektiv. Lärarnas val av exempel i undervisningen följer ofta en progression där undervisningen startar med mindre system för att sedan behandla stora samhällsbärande system och även i vissa fall produktionssystem. Sammantaget visar studien att lärare synliggörande av tekniska system hänger ihop med vilka representationer som används och vilka system som de väljer att använda i undervisningen. Dessa didaktiska val påverkar vilka aspekter av tekniska system som blir tydliga för eleverna och möjliga att resonera om. 

This thesis examines how Riksbank and the Federal Reserve monetary policy surprises affect sectoral equity returns in the Swedish stock market, with a particular focus on the Real Estate sector. Using an event-study framework on 103 Riksbank and 115 Federal Open Market Committee announcement days from January 2011 to November 2025, we estimate announcement day return responses across eight Swedish equity sectors. Riksbank surprises generate limited broad-market responses after controlling for global equity movements and exchange rate changes, but the Real Estate sector displays a robustly negative sensitivity across specifications. This is consistent with Sweden's rate-sensitive, highly indebted housing market. Federal Reserve surprises produce a broader sectoral footprint, with Financials and Basic Materials remaining significantly negative after controls, reflecting exposure to global discount-rate and trade channels. A GJR-GARCH robustness analysis confirms that the Riksbank effects for Real Estate and Basic Materials survive after accounting for volatility clustering and fat-tailed innovations, while the Federal Reserve effects are not reproduced in the full-sample mean equation. The results highlight that aggregate equity indices conceal cross-sectoral heterogeneity in monetary policy sensitivity within a small open economy, and that the Real Estate sector constitutes the most robust domestic transmission channel.

Denna studie undersöker hur lärare i årskurs F-3 resonerar kring arbetet med livsfrågor i religionskunskapsundervisningen. Tidigare forskning visar att livsfrågor, såsom rättvisa, döden, relationer och identitet är centrala för elevers förståelse för sig själva och sin omvärld. Samtidigt saknar dessa frågor givna svar och kan upplevas som känslomässigt komplexa.

Studien bygger på en kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem lärareverksamma i årskurserna F-3. Analysen genomfördes som en tematisk innehållsanalys. Resultatet visar att lärare ser livsfrågor både som ämnesbundna och situationsbundna. De kopplas till religionsämnets berättelser, men uppstår också spontant i elevernas vardag. Livsfrågor integreras även i värdegrundsarbetet och behandlas i samband med konflikter, känslor och sociala situationer. Lärarna betonar i sina resonemang vikten av trygghet och samtal som centrala verktyg för att möjliggöra reflektion. Arbetssätt som resoneras kring är öppna samtal, dilemman, dramatisering, studiebesök, bilderböcker och media.

Slutsatsen är att livsfrågor ges utrymme främst när de uppstår spontant, medan planerad undervisning ofta begränsas av prioritering kring annan ämnesundervisning. Studien visar att ett sociokulturellt perspektiv kan fördjupa förståelsen för hur samtal och interaktion stödjerelevernas meningsskapande. 

The rental industry in the building and construction sector is facing a market with low growth and high competition, increasing the need for better operational efficiency and customer value. The need for data-driven decision-making and management is growing as competition increases and the industry digitalizes. This paper aims to analyze how data-driven leadership and data-driven governance can contribute to a rental business within the building and construction sector, as well as the factors affecting the implementation of these ways of working. To address the purpose, three research questions have been formulated which form the foundation of the study: RQ1: How can data-driven leadership and data-driven governance contribute to the operational business in a rental business?, RQ2: How can data-driven leadership and data-driven governance help increase customer value in a rental business?, and RQ3: What cultural barriers to change may exist when implementing data-driven leadership and data-driven governance in a rental business? Based on the study’s theoretical framework, an analytical model has been developed to structure the analysis of the empirical material. The analytical model was used to examine how the transition from experience-based leadership and governance to data-driven leadership and governance can affect the operational business and customer value, as well as how cultural barriers may hinder this transition. The study is a qualitative single-case study based on semi-structured interviews with respondents from a Swedish machine rental company and some of their customers. The collected empirical material was analyzed using a thematic analysis.   The results show that data-driven leadership and data-driven governance primarily contribute to the operational part of the business through improved decision-making support and better operational oversight. The contribution to the operational business is, however, limited due to the deficiencies in the process between data collection and the use of data-based decision support, as these processes are not sufficiently integrated throughout the organization. The results of the study also show that data-driven leadership and data-driven governance have the potential to increase customer value across all four value dimensions: economic, functional, emotional and social value, but the potential is limited by the operational shortcomings. Furthermore, the implementation of more data-driven leadership and data-driven governance is hindered by cultural barriers that work as a self-reinforcing system, where factors such as an established knowledge regime, varying levels of trust related to data and insufficient managerial commitment offset the adoption of a more data-driven way of working. The study contributes to a better and deeper understanding of how data-driven governance and data-driven leadership can help develop the rental business within the building and construction sector, and the organizational elements needed to implement these ways of working.  

The Construction sector accounts for a significant portion of society's waste and greenhouse gas emissions, leading to increased pressure to transition toward a circular economy. Despite clear sustainability ambitions, there is a notable implementation gap where strategic goals are rarely translated into practical action within projects. This discrepancy is often explained through organizational decoupling, where project-based organizations prioritize short-term goals over long-term circularity. This study analyzes how the organizational structure of project-based construction firms shapes the implementation of circular resource flows. By examining the inherent tension between permanent corporate governance and temporary project logistics, the study identifies the critical barriers hindering the integration of circular solutions. A qualitative approach with an abductive research strategy was adopted. Data collection involved nine-semi structured interviews with key industry stakeholders alongside a detailed document analysis of a specific case, “Project X”. Through thematic analysis, empirical findings were contrasted against formal contracts and strategic tools such as CCBuild. Results indicate that primary barriers include legal uncertainty regarding product liability, rigid technical certification requirements and traditional procurement models like ABT 06. Project X serves as a clear illustration of decoupling, where an inventory identified to potentially save up to 111 tons of CO₂e and 3.9 million SEK, is bypassed due to fixed-price agreements and risk minimization within the iron triangle of time, cost and quality.

Evidence suggests that the implementation gap is not primarily driven by a lack of sustainability ambitions or technical capability, but rather by a structural incompatibility between circular resource flows and the dominant governance logic of project-based construction. The findings show how temporary project priorities related to delivery, risk mitigation and contractual stability override long-term sustainability objectives, reinforcing organizational decoupling. Furthermore, circular knowledge and experience often remain confined within temporary project structures, limiting organizational learning and the institutionalization of circular practices. The study contributes to research on project-based organizations by explaining how institutionalized governance mechanisms and project management logics function as a systematic stabilizers of linear construction practices. 

Public research and innovation are increasingly expected to address complex societal challenges, yet there is limited understanding of how steering in the early stages shapes the chain from research priorities to collaboration, implementation and utilisation. This study analyses how research and innovation plans (R&I plans) function as strategic steering instruments, and how governance, collaboration and utilisation interact in a public research and innovation system. The R&I plan of the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) serves as the empirical case.  The study is a qualitative single-case study with an abductive approach, based on 16 semi-structured interviews with internal and external actors in the transport research system and a complementary analysis of the R&I plan and related documents.  The findings show that governance, collaboration and utilisation should not be understood as three separate challenges, but as mutually dependent dimensions of the same steering problem. The R&I plan is formally central but rarely steers external actors actively. It functions in a selecting and legitimising rather than an idea-forming way, and its signalling capacity is weakened both by an accumulation of priorities and by the instrument having to serve several conflicting functions at once. Formal openness does not create actual accessibility, since the decisive knowledge of what the funder seeks is largely tacit and relational, which reproduces an inequality between established and new actors. Finally, the system is built to steer research in but lacks structures for taking results out, which makes utilisation a system problem rather than a project problem.  The study contributes by distinguishing between an instrument's formal centrality and its actual steering reach, between formal openness and actual accessibility, and between utilisation as a project and a system problem, and by integrating the three dimensions into a coherent analytical model. 

Knowledge sharing is important in consulting firms, where knowledge is a central resource. However, internal knowledge sharing can be challenging when consultants work in different customer assignments, often at customer sites and with limited daily contact with colleagues from their own firm. This can make it difficult for the consulting firm to make use of the knowledge and experience that consultants develop in their assignments.

The purpose of this study is to explore the challenges that exist in internal knowledge sharing among consultants within a consulting firm, particularly when consultants are engaged in different assignments for different customers. The study also aims to identify key enablers for effective knowledge sharing, including organisational, technological and managerial factors. The study is based on a single case study of a technical consulting firm in Sweden. A mixed-methods approach was used, including interviews with consultants and managers, observations, document analysis and a survey. The empirical findings were analysed in relation to existing theory on knowledge sharing, knowledge creation and consulting firms.

The findings show that knowledge sharing is mainly challenged by the customer-specific nature of consultants’ work, physical and organisational separation, limited time, unclear forums, attitudes and different ways of learning. Since consultants often develop knowledge in customer contexts, valuable experiences can remain with individuals rather than becoming available to the wider organisation. The study also shows that knowledge sharing is supported by shared internal contexts, knowing who to ask, an open environment, clear routines and digital tools that make knowledge and expertise easier to find.

The results indicate that effective knowledge sharing in consulting firms requires a combination of organisational, technological and managerial factors. Organisationally, consultants need opportunities to interact and build relationships across assignments. Technologically, tools should support both access to documented knowledge and identification of internal expertise. Managerially, knowledge sharing needs to be prioritised, supported by routines and given time. The study contributes by showing that consulting firms need to make better use of the knowledge that already exists among their consultants. By strengthening internal knowledge sharing, consulting firms can improve learning, support consultants in their work and create greater long-term value for the firm and its customers.

This thesis examines how the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region is implemented in Sweden, with a specific focus on Policy Area Education. By analyzing how civil servants across multiple levels of government interpret and apply the strategy, the study investigates the conditions that shape implementation in practice. The empirical material consists of a qualitative content analysis of steering documents from the Government Offices, the Norden Association, Region Västerbotten and the municipalities of Umeå and Skellefteå. This is followed by five semi-structured interviews with civil servants from these organizations. The analysis applies multi-level governance and implementation theory as theoretical frameworks

The findings show that implementation at the regional and municipal levels is limited. This is not due to a lack of knowledge about the strategy, with the exception of Skellefteå municipality, but rather the result of difficulties in communicating it aligning it with local priorities and integrating it into existing organizational structures. As a result, political leadership rarely prioritizes the strategy and there are few internal mechanisms that anchor it in the organizations’ ordinary functions. This leads to a high degree of personal dependence where implementation hinges on the initiative and perceived relevance of individual civil servants. Engagement in the strategy typically only occurs when the strategy is seen to provide concrete added value such as opportunities for collaboration or project funding. 

Vulkan is a modern cross-platform graphics API. It contains little to no abstraction, allowing the user to customize their Vulkan application as they see fit down to the smallest details. Because of this lack of abstraction, Vulkan is cumbersome to work with if you are starting from an empty project, or if you are a beginner. Students without any prior graphics programming experience fit the latter criteria, and therefore they should not start from an empty project. To make it possible for them to learn graphics programming using Vulkan within a reasonable time frame, a framework is needed. This thesis presents Simpler Vulkan, a framework that adds an abstraction layer on top of Vulkan, which allows students to work with Vulkan in a more beginner-friendly manner. Simpler Vulkan was made specifically for the courses TSBK07 and TSBK11 at Linköping University. It is a framework designed with a minimalistic philosophy, meaning it contains few to no functionalities outside of the intended use cases. Based on a comparison of lines of code between programs written with Simpler Vulkan and programs written with the OpenGL framework used in the courses, Simpler Vulkan performs similarly. Additionally, based on a small qualitative interview survey, Simpler Vulkan seems to be a straightforward and intuitive framework for students who have never used Vulkan before. However, for students who have prior experience with Vulkan, the Simpler Vulkan framework might limit them too much in their ability to customize Vulkan to fit their needs.

Introduktion: En allt högre yrkesverksam ålder kräver ett hållbart arbetsliv. Arbetsrelaterad stress och stressrelaterad ohälsa är ett stort problem orsakat av brister i det psykosociala säkerhetsklimatet på arbetsplatser. Arbetsplatser kan förebygga stressrelaterad psykisk ohälsa genom att skapa ett gott psykosocialt säkerhetsklimat. Inom de mansdominerande branscherna har flera arbeten som tidigare klassats som fysiskt krävande numera även blivit psykiskt krävande på grund av behov av nya arbetssätt. Det finns ett otillräckligt underlag på hur det psykosociala säkerhetsklimatet förhåller sig inom mansdominerade branscher i Stockholmsregionen och om det finns skillnader mellan de mansdominerade branscherna. Att undersöka det psykosociala säkerhetsklimatet är ett första steg för att kunna genomföra åtgärder som främjar psykiska hälsa på arbetsplatsen. Ett förbättrat psykosocialt säkerhetsklimat bidrar till ett inkluderande och hållbart arbetsliv, vilket i slutändan bidrar till en jämlik hälsa hos befolkningen. Syfte: Att undersöka det psykosociala säkerhetsklimatet på arbetsplatser inom mansdominerade branscher.Metod: Studien har utförts som en deskriptiv tvärsnittsstudie i form av en kvantitativ enkät-undersökning med screeninginstrumentet Psychosocial Safety Climate - 4 (PSC-4). 267 individer som arbetar inom fem olika mansdominerade branschområden deltog i studien. Insamlad statistiska data har analyserats i SPSS. För att besvara syftet har univariat- och multivariat analys, Kruskal- Wallis och Kruskal-Wallis 1-way ANOVA test med Bonferroni justerat signifikansvärde genomförts.Resultat och konklusion: En moderat risknivå enligt PSC-4 föreligger inom mansdominerade branschområden i Stockholmsregionen. Ökat fokus på risker i den organisatoriska och sociala arbetsmiljön krävs. Kommunikation om psykosociala säkerhetsfrågor fick ett avvikande lägre medianvärde gentemot övriga frågor. Det föreligger signifikanta skillnader mellan branschområdena. Inom branschområde Fastighetsskötsel och drift föreligger låg risk för ohälsa. Övriga branschområden har en moderat risknivå enligt PSC-4.

Conversational systems used in educational settings must be able to handle imperfect user input whilst also generating correct and socially appropriate responses. This thesis explores how robustness and appropriateness can be improved for the BookBot project. The BookBot is a conversational robot designed to have book discussions with children, with the goal of inspiring them to read more. Previous versions of the system struggled with misinterpretations of input, as well as a lack of output filtering, resulting in inappropriate responses at times. 

To address these problems, this thesis introduces an input interpretation module as well as an output monitoring module. The input module classifies input into distinct categories with the help of the large language model (LLM) used in the system. Depending on the classification, fallback strategies may be triggered, or normal book-related discussions may continue. The output module filters the generated response by performing sentiment analysis as well as LLM-based self-evaluation on the response. The response may be regenerated depending on the outcome of the sentiment analysis and self-evaluation. These modules were evaluated using historical conversation logs from previous deployments of the BookBot system. 

The results show that the proposed modules improved the robustness and appropriateness of the system. The input interpretation module reduced misunderstandings and improved the handling of unclear input, while the output monitoring module detected and regenerated potentially harmful responses. The combined system showed that the modules interacted positively and performance improved compared to when the modules operated independently. However, these improvements came at a significant cost in increased latency, due to the increase in LLM calls and API throttling.

The thesis concludes that the input interpretation module and the output monitoring module can improve conversation quality in conversational systems for educational use. However, the additional computational cost and latency introduced with the current implementation limits its practicality. Future work should therefore focus on reducing latency, potentially through the use of a local or fine-tuned LLM.

Hur logopeder i Sverige fattar diagnosbeslut vid utvecklingsrelaterad språkstörning (DLD) är till stor del outforskat. Studien undersöker i vilka situationer logopeder i Sverige använder ospecificerade diagnoser vid misstänkt eller konstaterad DLD hos barn upp till sex år, samt vilka faktorer som påverkar beslutet. 114 logopeder besvarade en webbenkät i två delar: tre fallvinjetter med diagnosval och motivering av valet samt frågor om självskattad diagnostisk praxis. Svaren analyserades med deskriptiv statistik och riktad kvalitativ innehållsanalys. I enkätens självskattningsdel uppgav majoriteten att de regelbundet använder ospecificerade diagnoser och att de har en åldersgräns för specificerad diagnos, vanligen fyra år. Vanliga skäl till ospecificerad diagnos var otillräckligt bedömningsunderlag, låg ålder, flerspråkighet, misstänkt samförekomst med andra utvecklingsrelaterade tillstånd och lokala rutiner. I fallvinjetterna ledde samma information till olika diagnosval. Logopedernas skattade säkerhet skilde sig inte mellan ospecificerade och specificerade diagnosval. Analysen av resonemangen i fallvinjetterna synliggjorde grundläggande skiljelinjer: hur standardiserade testresultat värderades i förhållande till annan information, synen på diagnosen som en ögonblicksbild eller ett varaktigt tillstånd, hur hemspråket värderades vid flerspråkighet och frågan om huruvida misstänkt samförekomst utesluter en specificerad DLD-diagnos. Valet av ospecificerad diagnos speglade inte alltid osäkerhet om barnets förmågor, utan kunde spegla att klassifikationssystemet inte erbjöd ett alternativ som motsvarade logopedens bedömning. Diagnoskoden, diagnostexten och vad logopeden kommunicerade till familjen kunde förmedla tre olika ställningstaganden om samma barn. Variationen i diagnosval bör inte förstås som ett kunskapsproblem hos enskilda logopeder, utan som en konsekvens av att gemensamma ramar saknas. Resultaten pekar på behovet av nationell vägledning för diagnosbeslut vid DLD.

Warehouse logistics is undergoing a rapid shift toward automation, especially through the use of autonomous forklifts. Self-localization and positioning are critical, but current solutions often rely on costly  (especially safety-rated) sensors, slowing development and increasing manufacturing costs. In contrast, cameras are inexpensive and, when paired with vision models, can provide semantic understanding of the environment. This thesis investigates the task of locating pallet slot corners using neural networks on RGB images.

Initially, a preliminary study was conducted, which resulted in three approaches to the task. All models were trained on synthetic data to evaluate whether models trained only on synthetic data can transfer to real-world data. The networks were compared, and different augmentations and datasets were developed to reduce the sim-to-real gap. In addition,  a tracking system for image sequences was developed and evaluated to assess whether tracking could further improve robustness.

The results show that YOLO26m achieved the highest F1-scores: 0.913 on synthetic images and 0.712 on real-world images. These results were obtained using a match-radius of 5 pixels, meaning that only predictions within 5 pixels of the ground truth were considered correct. Applying tracking with optical flow as a post-processing step on a synthetic image sequence increased the F1-score from 0.774 to 0.838, improving both recall and precision.

Fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operating in constrained environments require guidance systems capable of accurate and robust path-following. This thesis investigates and compares several Model Predictive Control (MPC) approaches for fixed-wing UAV path following, with the objective of achieving high tracking performance while maintaining low computational complexity.

Both linear and nonlinear formulations, as well as time-domain and spatial-domain approaches, are investigated. The results show that linear MPC is the most computationally efficient and real-time friendly approach, although it achieves lower tracking performance compared to the nonlinear MPC formulation. Furthermore, the time-domain formulations generally demonstrate better performance than the corresponding spatial-domain formulations. A favorable trade-off between tracking performance and computational complexity is achieved using a linear Model Predictive Contouring Controller (MPCC), which attains tracking performance close to that of nonlinear MPC while maintaining computational requirements similar to those of linear MPC.

Modern game engines provide tools for game development. One such tool is simulations through physics engines. Game engines can be used for racing games, where people can race against other people's ghosts or in other areas entirely, such as autonomous vehicle testing. Both of these require reliable results, which becomes hard when the physics engines used are non-deterministic.  

This thesis investigated using prediction and reconciliation, used in online games, to increase the accuracy of replayed simulations and keep recording sizes low, in the non-deterministic physics engine Bullet. The game Drive Mad Versus, developed by Fancade, was used to collect recordings. When these recordings were replayed, dead reckoning with sample points was used for reconciliation and entity interpolation was used for prediction between sample points.

 The replayed simulation showed high accuracy through a low average divergence with an error between 10^-3 and 10^-1. However, replays showed high maximum divergence of around 10⁰ to 10² for recordings which contained discontinuities in the original simulation. Levels which contained no moving objects showed a decrease of around 90% in file size. Levels with moving objects showed varying file size decreases, with the lowest decrease being 26.1% the size of the baseline recording format.

This thesis examines the relationship between economic and political uncertainty and investments in the oil and natural gas sector during the period 2016–2025. The sector is characterized by high capital requirements, long investment horizons, and irreversibility, which makes investment decisions sensitive to changes in external uncertainty. Given this, the purpose is to analyze how economic and political uncertainty, measured through the Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) index, covaries with firms’ capital expenditures (CAPEX). The research question is addressed using an international panel consisting of 6,060 firms across nine countries. Initially, Pooled OLS and Fixed Effects models are estimated. Thereafter, a dynamic panel data method in terms of Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) is used to address potential endogeneity and the dynamic nature of investments. The thesis is further complemented by robustness analyses at both country and sector level, as well as a sensitivity analysis using Interrupted Time Series (ITS) to examine whether the relationship varies depending on context and periods of high uncertainty. The results show that increased economic-political uncertainty is generally associated with lower investment levels. This result is consistent with real options theory, which predicts that uncertainty increases the value of postponing irreversible investment decisions. The robustness analyses simultaneously indicate that the relationship varies across different countries, sectors, and model specifications. The thesis contributes to the literature by showing that the relationship between economic-political uncertainty and investments is heterogeneous rather than general, where the effect varies depending on institutional conditions and contextual differences. 

Sim2Real techniques offer a promising way to predict wood-jamming events in sawmill operations by bridging the gap between simulated and real environments. This thesis proposes and evaluates a Sim2Real pipeline that combines a physics-based 3D simulation, generative image enhancement, and machine learning. The pipeline is designed to enable early anomaly detection. The study investigates how simulation quality, diffusion-based realism improvements, domain-specific augmentations, and temporal modeling influence object detection and predictive performance in a real industrial sawmill. The key research questions focus on simulation realism, domain adaptation, and temporal anomaly prediction.The methodology begins by building a synthetic sawmill environment in Blender, where a rigid-body physics engine simulates realistic log-conveyor interactions. Logs are spawned with randomized poses and physical properties, creating a variety of plausible scenarios. Environmental and seasonal variations are introduced using NVIDIA Cosmos Transfer, a diffusion-based process that enhances image realism while preserving geometric and semantic consistency. Multiple datasets are generated by combining synthetic, diffusion-enhanced, and traditionally augmented images (e.g., HSV jitter, grayscale, blur). A YOLO-v11 model is trained for log detection and localization, with evaluation on real images to measure the reality gap. For temporal prediction, an MLP is trained on ground-truth object poses, and in inference, it uses predicted poses from the YOLO detector to anticipate jamming events.Results show that the synthetic-only model achieves moderate performance, with a pose mAP@50-95 of 57.76%, primarily limited by geometric accuracy and lighting conditions. Diffusion-enhanced images reduce the reality gap to a similar extent as traditional augmentation. Combining synthetic and real data significantly improves detection, reaching a pose mAP@50-95 of 88.41% and outperforming a model trained only on real images. The MLP, trained on annotated log poses, forecasts jamming events up to five seconds in advance with 94.9% accuracy and a 83.8% F1-score, following the hypothesis that abnormal angular deviations in log orientation precede wood-jamming events. This demonstrates that temporal modeling can effectively anticipate short-term anomalies. These results emphasize the importance of accurate simulations, consistent lighting, and careful dataset design for effective Sim2Real transfer. Specifically, experimental comparisons reveal that data quality and geometric fidelity are more critical than sheer quantity, as scaling synthetic data can increase model bias toward the simulated environment. The thesis provides a practical framework that integrates simulation, generative image enhancement, and temporal modeling to support early anomaly detection. Future work should explore higher-detail simulation models to better capture log dynamics and lighting, test advanced domain adaptation and augmentation strategies, and validate temporal predictions on larger real-world datasets. These improvements are expected to further reduce the reality gap, enhance predictive performance, and strengthen the practical use of Sim2Real pipelines in industrial sawmill operations.

Web applications are critical for modern digital services, traditionally requiring sub-stantial effort and expertise from human developer teams to ensure robust security andfunctionality. Recently, Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as powerful toolsto accelerate this development process, though concerns regarding the security of the gen-erated code persist. This thesis investigates the viability of one of these models by com-paring a peer-to-peer rental web application built by a human developer team with anLLM-generated equivalent.Applying a design science approach, the study evaluates actual security via static anal-ysis and penetration testing, perceived security through user tests and surveys amongLinköping University students, and development effort by contrasting work hours withLLM costs. Results indicate that both technical security knowledge and practical secure-development expertise are important for producing a secure web application. The findingsalso suggest that user perceptions of security are influenced not only by visible design cuesbut also by features such as authentication and single sign-on.Overall, the thesis shows that LLMs can support web application development, butthey do not yet replace the need for human oversight when security is a critical require-ment.

The construction sector faces major challenges related to climate impact and resource use, where the use of natural materials such as aggregates contributes significantly to environmental impacts. To support the transition towards a more circular economy, alternative materials such as municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (MSWI bottom ash) have been identified as possible substitutes. This study aims to evaluate the potential of bottom ash as a construction material in road construction by analysing both practical experiences and environmental impacts from a life cycle perspective. The study focuses on two main areas: (i) practical experiences and challenges when using bottom ash compared to primary aggregate materials, and (ii) environmental impacts from a life cycle perspective. To achieve this, a case study of the Ullevileden project in Linköping, Sweden, was carried out, where bottom ash is used as a subbase material in a pedestrian and bicycle road. The study is based on both qualitative interviews with involved stakeholders and a quantitative life cycle assessment (LCA) comparing bottom ash with primary aggregate material. The life cycle assessment included four environmental impact areas: climate impact, resource depletion, water use, and toxicity.

The results show that the construction process when using bottom ash differs from the use of primary aggregate materials due to the need for adapted working methods, such as increased watering, special compaction methods, and thicker material layers. Properties of bottom ash, such as higher optimal water content and lower initial bearing capacity, make the construction process more complex and in some cases more time- and resource-demanding. Several practical challenges were also identified, including variations in material composition, dust generation, and remaining metal fragments in the material. These challenges require improved material treatment, adapted working methods, careful planning, and better coordination between involved stakeholders. The life cycle assessment shows that bottom ash can significantly reduce climate impact compared to natural aggregate materials, mainly due to reduced aggregate production and shorter transport distances. At the same time, bottom ash shows higher potential ecotoxicity due to metal leaching, meaning that its use involves trade-offs between climate benefits, resource efficiency, and possible environmental risks. The study also identifies several important factors affecting the sustainability of bottom ash, where transport distances, leaching conditions, and material properties strongly influence its environmental performance.

Finally, the study shows that bottom ash has the potential to become a competitive and resource-efficient alternative to natural aggregates in road construction, especially in local projects with short transport distances where large climate and resource benefits can be achieved. At the same time, the long-term use of the material depends on several important factors, including technical reliability, management of leaching risks, and adapted construction methods. In line with the EEA criteria, the results show that the market potential of bottom ash is limited by a lack of standardisation, unclear regulations, and low acceptance among authorities, creating uncertainty regarding the quality of the material and limits the use of the material to only local applications. To increase the use of bottom ash on a national level and in competition with traditional aggregate materials, clearer technical guidelines, improved quality assurance, and better guidance for industry stakeholders are needed. Without these conditions, the use of bottom ash may remain limited despite its contribution to a more circular and sustainable construction sector.

This thesis investigates the numerical behavior, stability, and robustness of 7 different creep material subroutines used in finite element simulations of high-temperature components, with a focus on materials used on the turbine-side casings in large turbochargers. The aim is to develop a structured approach to evaluate existing creep subroutines and to identify factors governing their numerical performance.

A numerical test suite was developed to systematically assess the industrial creep subroutines, used by Accelleron, which are associated with different cast iron materials. The methodology combines single-element simulations, enabling isolation of material behavior, with multi-element simulations that introduce geometrical complexity, stress redistribution, and temperature gradients. In addition, the contribution of individual terms within the underlying creep formulations was analyzed. Simulations were carried out in Abaqus, with post-processing performed in Matlab.

The results show that the investigated subroutines differ significantly in numerical stability and predictive accuracy. Only a few of the models reproduced experimental creep behavior with low error, while others exhibited deviations of up to approximately 50%. Stability was generally maintained within the calibrated stress–temperature range but instability started showing under increased loading, particularly at elevated temperatures. An important distinction is that diverged solutions still produced relevant  results up to 2% creep strain, but the solution diverged at a later stage. 

Differences in numerical behavior were found to be governed by the creep constants to a large extent. However, the constants act through the mathematical structure of each creep formulation, such that stability is controlled by the interaction between formulation and calibration rather than by either of them alone.

It was concluded that a structured numerical test suite is a working method for evaluating creep subroutines. It enables the possible identification of stability limitations, parameter sensitivity, and model robustness under industrially relevant conditions. Although some models exhibit instability at extreme conditions, most produce physically meaningful results within engineering-relevant strain levels, highlighting the distinction between practical usability and numerical robustness.

Road deterioration monitoring is important for supporting road maintenance, safety, and efficient resource allocation. Connected vehicle data enables frequent measurements of road roughness, but detected deterioration alerts still require further interpretation to determine their cause and urgency. This thesis investigates whether International Roughness Index (IRI) time series can be used to classify already detected road deterioration alerts into three categories: road construction, rapid deterioration, and slow deterioration. Alerts from selected geographic regions were manually labelled using visual inspection of IRI trends together with supporting map-based information. During this process, many alerts were found to be ambiguous, highlighting the difficulty of distinguishing between the three classes and the need for careful handling of uncertain cases. A rule-based baseline classifier was compared with a logistic regression classifier that uses features extracted from the time series using two methods: catch22 and MiniRocket. The models were evaluated using both pre-alert data and combined pre- and post-alert data. The best performance was achieved by logistic regression with MiniRocket features, reaching 81.6% accuracy and a macro F1-score of 75.7% using pre-alert data, increasing to 84.9% accuracy and 80.2% macro F1-score when post-alert data was included. While catch22 achieved lower classification performance, its interpretable features provided clearer insight into the characteristics influencing the classifications. Overall, the results show that IRI time series can support meaningful classification of road deterioration alerts, but ambiguity between alert classes remains an important limitation.

In a world of computers, data integrity is of utmost importance. To know where the information published online truly originates is becoming an increasingly difficult task. One place where this may be a problem is in the gaming world, where piracy is a common issue. In this master's thesis, the work is performed on a platform for small games, where there is a potential risk that games could be copied, modified, and republished under another author's name, raising concerns about preserving the authenticity of game authorship.To determine if a copy has been made, this report explores pairwise similarity detection methods to ensure authenticity. Similarity metrics were constructed from raw game data, game logic, and graphical appearance using fuzzy hashing, Abstract Syntax Trees with the Zhang–Shasha algorithm, and color histograms compared using cosine distance and earth mover's distance.The methods were evaluated using four datasets: popular game groups, near-copy games, manually selected distinct games, and 100 unlabeled games. Pairwise similarity metrics generally distinguished games within the same group from those outside it. Combined pairwise similarity measures analyzed using Kernel Principal Component Analysis and Multi-Dimensional Scaling preserved meaningful group structure and successfully detected near-copy games. Kernel Principal Component Analysis on the unlabeled dataset showed short distances between games of similar level design and color scheme.The main contribution of this thesis is the demonstration that combined feature-based similarity metrics can capture meaningful relationships between games and show promise as a tool for detecting copied games, particularly near-copy variants.