Det finns en mängd miljöproblem på global, regional och lokal nivå, kunskap om de lokala miljöproblemen kan bli avgörande för förståelsen av vilka åtgärder som är lämpliga i vilka miljöer. Lokala miljöproblem är också mindre komplicerade och lättare att åtgärda relaterat till de regionala och globala problemen. Sedan urbaniseringens början har landskapen förändrats och ytor av öppen landsbygd har bildat stadsmiljöer för att ge utrymme till bland annat boende och arbetsplatser för människorna i staden. Urbaniseringen har lett till att urbana värmeöar har uppstått på grund av föroreningar från industrier, trafik, bostäder, värmesystem, luftpartiklars återstrålningseffekt, bebyggelsens utformning samt materialval, minskad avdunstningsavkylning, effektiv dränering och mycket mer.

Flerfallstudien av några av Sveriges kommuners översiktsplaner och andra ledande dokument leder till en inblick i vad som anses vara hållbar stadsutveckling. Förtätning är en återkommande strategi för hållbar stadsutveckling inom ett flertal av Sveriges kommuner, ofta utifrån positiva sociala effekter, såsom ökad säkerhet, närhet mellan målpunkter, ökat underlag för kollektivtrafik etcetera. Det finns en mängd olika åtgärder för att minska stadens klimatpåverkan ur värmesynpunkt, en del är mer kostsamma än andra, samtidigt är en del mer experimentella än andra. En stad som förtätas innebär att outnyttjade eller redan bebyggda områden i staden exploateras, detta innebär att staden växer inåt. Då staden blir tätare och växer uppstår flera lokala miljöproblem, bland annat så ökar den urbana värmeöeffekten. Det talas sällan om de negativa miljöeffekter som uppstår vid olika planeringsprojekt, men att använda konkreta och enkla lösningar för att få fram genomförbara alternativ, kan leda till att värmeöeffekten samt miljöpåverkan minskar i städerna.

Background: As global aging accelerates, routinely assessing the functional status and morbidity burden of older patients becomes paramount. The aim of this study is to assess the validity of the comprehensive clinical and functional Health Assessment Tool (HAT) based on four cohorts of older adults (60 + years) from the Swedish National study on Aging and Care (SNAC) spanning urban, suburban, and rural areas.

Methods: The HAT integrates five health indicators (gait speed, global cognition, number of chronic diseases, and basic and instrumental activities of daily living), providing an individual-level score between 0 and 10. The tool was constructed using nominal response models, first separately for each cohort and then in a harmonized dataset. Outcomes included all-cause mortality over a maximum follow-up of 16 years and unplanned hospital admissions over a maximum of 3 years of follow-up. The predictive capacity was assessed through the area under the curve (AUC) using logistic regressions. For time to death, Cox regressions were performed, and Harrell’s C-indices were reported. Results from the four cohorts were pooled using individual participant data meta-analysis and compared with those from the harmonized dataset.

Results: The HAT demonstrated high predictive capacity across all cohorts as well as in the harmonized dataset. In the harmonized dataset, the AUC was 0.84 (95% CI 0.81–0.87) for 1-year mortality, 0.81 (95% CI 0.80–0.83) for 3-year mortality, 0.80 (95% CI 0.79–0.82) for 5-year mortality, 0.69 (95% CI 0.67–0.70) for 1-year unplanned admissions, and 0.69 (95% CI 0.68–0.70) for 3-year unplanned admissions. The Harrell’s C for time-to-death throughout 16 years of follow-up was 0.75 (95% CI 0.74–0.75).

Conclusions: The HAT is a highly predictive, clinically intuitive, and externally valid instrument with potential for better addressing older adults’ health needs and optimizing risk stratification at the population level. © The Author(s) 2024.

In this paper, dissimilar aluminum (Al) and copper (Cu) metals were joined together using ultrasonic metal welding (USMW), a solid-state welding technology. From the perspective of increasing the base metal welding contact area, the Cu/Al mating surface was innovatively prepared and ultrasonically welded. A comprehensive analysis was carried out on the forming quality, welding process temperature, interface structure, and mechanical properties of the welded joint. Defect-free and squeezed welds were successfully achieved by machining novel patterns especially C4-2. The results indicated that the reference joint can withstand higher loads, but its failure mode is very unstable. Failure may occur at welded interface and on the aluminum plate which is not good for actual production applications. Welded strength of reference joint was 4493 N, and the welded strength of C4-2 joint was 3691 N. However, microscopic analysis discovered that the welded joint internal morphology in C4-2 was more stable and hardest. C4-2 joint has successfully achieved higher tensile strength and stability under failure displacement of 38% which is higher than C4-1 joint. All welded joint failures occurred on aluminum plate, indicating that the joint strength is higher than that of bottom plate. This is attributed to unique structural design of chiseled joint and lesser thickness. SEM–EDS results investigated that the C4-2 joint can transfer more energy to area under welding head which provides welded joint with robust diffusion capacity. The transition layer has a higher thickness while the energy transferred to area away from welding head was smaller. Thickness of transition layer is significantly reduced and reference joint has similar diffusion characteristics. Conversely, the thickness of the transition layer at the corresponding position is smaller than that of pattern morphology. This is due to overall smaller thickness of the pattern joint which is more conducive to the transfer of welding energy. The surface-conformed approach and comprehensive temperature analysis provide a new understanding of USMW in dissimilar welded metals. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2024.

Ultrasonic wire welding is considered a method of choice for creating reliable interconnects in electronics industry including aerospace, batteries and electric vehicles. In this paper, ultrasonic welding tests between EVR252 copper wire and substrate are carried out. Novel pattern morphologies are machined on substrates to explore its influence on mechanical properties of welded joint. Patterns are divided into three different categories e.g., original surface, vertical and horizontal shapes. Cracks, microstructure strength and tensile properties of welded joint are studied and its joining mechanism is analysed. Compared with the reference substrate (S1), the welded joint performance of the longitudinal patterns (S2, S3, S4) has been improved, among which the longitudinal pattern (S4) has the most significant improvement (+ 15%). Likewise, the performance of transverse pattern (S5) welded joints is relatively poor (− 16%). The microstructural analysis using SEM has revealed predominant joint strength on Cu wire surface while maintaining rock-like and compact properties of S4 substrate. Upper side of wire-harness compactness is frequently observed due to vertical direction of patterns on substrate and also increases the strength of welded joint. Values of failure load, failure displacement and failure energy absorption were increased by 7.9%, 72% and 35% for S2, 6.1%, 75% and 42% for S3 and 15%, 87% and 113% for S4 compared to S1. Failure modes of welded joints are mainly characterized into: 1-poor ductility or rupture (no deformation) failure in vertical 3-line pattern joints 2-cylindrical deep holes failure in vertical 3-line zigzag pattern joints and 3-bulging effect failure in horizontal 3-line zigzag pattern joints. Point and line scans EDS measurement were performed to investigate weaker and stable trends of different locations in welded joints. In S4 substrate, 17.9% carbon content at the position of welded joint was investigated, leading to content of less oxides and fraction impurities. However, S1 weld zone contains 38.7% carbon content which can weaken welded joint and reduce durability. Graphical Abstract: (Figure presented.). © The Author(s) under exclusive licence to The Korean Institute of Metals and Materials 2024.

Ultrasonic metal welding machines are suitable for various complex applications (e.g., battery tabs) through unique mechanical design, special pressure application methods and high-precision welding. This work reports the weldability, forming quality and fractographic analysis of copper multilayered welded joints which were studied by SEM-EDS characterization, micro-hardness testing and tensile testing based on ultrasonic double roller welding (UDRW). Three groups of process parameters (A, B and C) were established to investigate the performance, production quality and welded joint surface interconnections. The tensile testing results of sample under parameter 3 in group A [S-P3(A)] indicate the maximum tensile strength of 69.859 N in T-peel test while the average tensile strength has increased by 58.525 N due to rise in welding time from 2 sec to 5 sec. The results analysis indicates that welding quality features in S-P3(A) joints under 4 bar, 100 mm/s, 45 % have been exploited. The over-welded zone was transformed into good-welded zone. The micro-cracks, fatigue stations and peeling texture in multilayers were reduced. It was found that when the welding energy was 10000 J then the tearing edges and interlayers cracks were minimized while keeping the other parameters constant. Moreover, when the amplitude increased up to 50 %, then numerous micro-cracks and micro-fissure stations were created, which leads to the occurrence of fracture in multi-layer welded joint. The EDS study investigated that the complex features are formed at the interface junction of sample 3 S3(A) in multilayer welds. The complex multilayer microstructures can induce and produce unique hardness properties for battery manufacturing. It leads to high quality and durable welds. Eventually, it is experimentally demonstrated that robust 40 layer welded joints can be obtained by the UDRW process. Data availability: The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. © 2024 The Authors

Nowadays, the impact of technological growth‏ ‏on people’s life and our society is remarkable, ‎inevitable and also worrying. The excessive influence of technology in ‎individuals’ lives has caused our community to change towards more privatisation and ‎secluded life. At this point, the role of urban public spaces in social life has become more ‎prominent and significant. Issues of social life in public spaces and the relations with creating a ‎vibrant and dynamic city has not been given too much attention in urban planning and design. ‎This thesis raises the question of considering public spaces and how urban public spaces ‎‎(especially squares) can encourage/persuade citizens ‎to increase social interaction‎. Initially, it describes a clear definition of public spaces and urban squares. Thereafter, the study addresses ‎effectual factors from the human perspective which can help to achieve the successful design of an ‎urban public square. The aim of the work is to comprehend how it might be possible to improve ‎social life and behaviour in public spaces (squares) and consequently to attain a framework in ‎order to design. Ultimately, a design is proposed for Fisktorget (Fish Square), which is one of most important public places in the Karlskrona city in Sweden. The proposed design is based on studies and analyses that have been done throughout this thesis. 

Background: In general, it is very complicated to build submarines. There are many parts and equipment that must be in place, and there are tight spaces on the boat. As submarine development progresses and new modern concepts take shape, the installation of new equipment on board becomes more complex, placing higher demands on well-defined interfaces, both geometrically and logically. The approach to electrical cabinets today is to run the cables from the bottom or top through a cable transit system, and only after the cabinet is installed on the submarine can the cables be installed in the proper terminals. This means that the installation takes a lot of time and combined with the fact that there are so many cables sticking out of the cable grommet, the work becomes even more superficial as installers are also constrained by the tight space. Sometimes workers also must move around to make room for others to pass through other parts of the submarine. This means that workers must leave their jobs and move before resuming their work. The following can happen several times a day, which means more time is needed to install electrical cabinets on the submarine.

Purpose: The purpose of this work is to develop and design a solution that is a standardized interface for equipment in the form of electrical cabinets that are present and used in submarines. In this way, the solution must be able to satisfy the different interfaces of the devices that the different subcontractors provide to the company. The created proposals must be illustrated with a CAD software to visualize the concept.

Methodology: The research methodology used in this project is a combination of Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Design Thinking (DT).

Result: The result presents a solution (ISO-box) that shows that it is possible to reduce and optimize the time to install the cabinet once the cabinet is permanently mounted on the submarine. The solution is presented in the form of a CAD model. The model is set up so that all the cables coming from the cable transit system have an adapter at the end, which has a counterpart in a box to the cabinet that is installed on the submarine. Then when the cabinet is assembled, all that must be done is to plug the right connector into the right place in this box. The box has colors for the connectors and numbering that makes it easier for the installer to know which adapter to use.

Conclusions: The work shows that it is quite possible to change the current solution so that less time is needed in the final assembly of the cabinets. It will be easier to just connect the contacts and then leave room for others to pass in the confined spaces. It will also be easier to maintain, as the installer can replace broken contacts as the solution is modular, and there is the possibility of installing new equipment with ISO-box if necessary.

Innovativeness is considered to be an important factor for firm’s survival and their ability to compete in today’s market. Therefore, researchers have become more interested in studying innovativeness and its drivers. Studies have also showed that there’s a positive relationship between environmental uncertainty and innovativeness. Organisations are responsive to turbulent environments through innovativeness in order to stay competitive and improve performance. The purpose of this thesis is to rank critical environmental factor’s effect on organisational innovativeness of small and medium enterprises in Sweden, through investigating the impact of market/demand turbulence and technological turbulence on innovativeness. Additionally, we want to examine the relationship between innovativeness and business performance, as well as the indirect relationship between environmental uncertainty and performance. Based on previous literature, we have developed hypotheses and proposed a research model to study the formulated problems. Data for the study were collected from 50 SMEs in Sweden, through a survey with well-known scales and were analysed using regression analysis. The results of the study, reveal that environmental uncertainty has a positive effect on the innovativeness of SMEs. In addition, technological turbulence showed to have a positive significant effect on an SME’s innovativeness; however, contrary to general belief, market/demand turbulence did not have any prominent effect. Our findings also proved that innovativeness have a strong positive impact on business performance, and that only technological turbulence have an indirect influence on performance through innovativeness. This study aimed to contribute to the management a better understanding, of which conditions of environmental turbulences SMEs should adapt to, in order to increase their level of innovativeness. Keywords: environmental uncertainty, organizational innovativeness, performance, market/demand turbulence, technological turbulence, SMEs.

Bakgrund: Diabetes typ 2 är ett allvarligt växande globalt hälsoproblem och står för ca 90% till 95% av all diabetes, med högst andel i låg-och medelinkomstländer. Diabetes typ 2 har utvecklats i samband med bland annat ökad konsumtion av ultraprocessade livsmedel, fetma, minskad fysisk aktivitet och ohälsosamma livsstils- och beteendemönster. Genom livsstilsförändringar med hälsosam kost- och motion kan diabetes typ 2 kontrolleras. Att arbeta hälsofrämjande kan stärka personens egna resurser till att genomföra livsstilsförändringar med målet att förbättra den upplevda hälsan.

Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva personers upplevelser av livsstilsförändringar relaterat till kost och motion- vid diabetes typ 2.

Metod: Studien utfördes som en integrerande sammanställning av kvalitativ forskning – inspirerad av metasyntes och en induktiv ansatts. 10 vetenskapliga artiklars resultat analyserades med hjälp av Fribergs analysmodell.

Resultat: 10 artiklar från följande länder ingick i dataanalysen: Jordanien, Singapore, Qatar, Italien, England, Australien, Thailand, Indien, Guatemala och Pakistan. Från dataanalysen framkom följande kategorier som omfattar personers upplevelser av livsstilsförändringar relaterat till kost och motion vid diabetes typ 2. Huvudkategorier: att omgivningen påverkar och att motivationen påverkar. Underkategorier: att sociala sammankomster försvårar, att stöd från närstående är viktigt, betydelsen av att acceptera förändringar och att ha tillgång till tid är viktigt.

Slutsats: Den här studien påvisar att omgivningen hade en viktig betydelse för hur personerna upplevde livsstilsförändringar gällande kost och motion. Dom stödjande eller bristande faktorerna från omgivningen påverkade personerna på olika sätt vilket visade att negativa upplevelser från närstående eller sociala sammanhang kopplat till sjukdomen försvårade följsamheten till en hälsosam livsstil. Att arbeta utifrån ett personcentrerat förhållningsätt visade på att kunna stärka motivationen, självförtroendet och den positiva synen på hälsotillstånden hos personer med diabetes typ 2.

Bakgrund: Den vanligaste cancerformen hos kvinnor är bröstcancer med mastektomi som den vanligaste kirurgiska behandlingen. Kvinnors bröst är ofta förknippade med sexualitet och kvinnlig natur vilket gör denna stympande behandling väldigt påfrestande på kvinnans identitet och kroppsuppfattning. Cancer är inte bara en klinisk sjukdom då den även påverkar kvinnans liv såväl biologiskt, psykologiskt som socialt. Här har sjukvården en avgörande roll i kvinnans vård. Sjukvårdspersonalen behöver en djupare förståelse för mastektomi och dess påverkan på kvinnors mentala hälsa.

Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva kvinnors psykiska problem efter mastektomi vid bröstcancer.

Metod: En allmän litteraturöversikt. Studien har en induktiv ansats med integrativ metod där artiklarna analyseras med Fribergs (2022b) analys för en allmän litteraturöversikt.

Resultat: Efter genomförd analys framkom tre kategorier; Depression och ångest bland kvinnor som genomgår mastektomi, Kvinnans livskvalitet i samband med mastektomi och Familjen och vårdpersonalens betydelse för kvinnans psykiska problem.

Slutsats: Många kvinnor lider utav psykiska problem i samband med en mastektomi operation, främst depression och ångest. Största orsakerna berodde på symtombörda och försämrad kroppsuppfattning vilket leder till sämre livskvalitet. Familjen och vårdpersonalen har en stor roll för den mentala hälsan då de agerar som stöd för kvinnan.

Background

Tarkett AB Ronneby (Sweden) is a flooring solutions company, recognized for the manufacturing and recycling of homogeneous plastic flooring. Tarkett AB recycles mainly installation spill and manufacturing defects. However, Tarkett AB is considering widening its recycling capabilities to include old and torn plastic floors which may contain impurities and banned substances or plastic floors of competing brands. To accomplish this, Tarkett is considering a completely new recycling line with an automated sorting process instead of the current manual process. Thus, Tarkett proposes a dissertation to conceptualize a new automated sorting system with added capacity and increased functionality.

Purpose

This work aims to investigate the current sorting process and introduce conceptual solutions for a new automated sorting process capable of identifying and separating plastic floors according to the manufacturer, type, condition, and external waste by using existing technology.

Method

The methods and tools used in this work are mainly based on a modified product development process. Starting with data collection of the current sorting process, performing a need-finding, and extracting requirements for an automated sorting process, investigating relevant technology, evaluating technology based on scientific literature and tests. The testing was conducted in collaboration with two companies. Near-infrared scanners were tested with Holger AB, while pattern recognition systems were tested with Vision-Geek. Finally, three concepts for the automated sorting process were developed and shown through flow charts and 2D-3D illustrations.

Results

The results of this work showed that it was possible to use near-infrared and pattern recognition for the separation of plastic floors. Besides, three conceptual solutions for an automated sorting process were generated and showcased with schematic graphs and 2D-3D illustrations. The concepts describe how the sorting process functions and what technology is used for each step of the process. Concept 1 and Concept 2 used both pattern recognition and spectroscopy methods. While Concept 3 only used spectroscopy methods. Moreover, spectroscopy methods were used to sort plastic floors by content while pattern recognition by appearance.

Conclusions

Recycling of torn and old plastic flooring can be beneficial for both the environment and the recycling industry. Yet, it presents some challenges relating to reliable, fast, and nondestructive identification for sorting and separation purposes. New and proven technology such as near-infrared hyperspectral imaging and pattern recognition can be used. However, high-quality pattern and spectrum libraries of multiple plastic floors have to be created for optimal and reliable reference models. Furthermore, pattern recognition and near-infrared methods need to be tested further at an industrial scale. 

In an increasingly urban society, cities pose both challenges and opportunities to move towards a more sustainable society. This study examines the role of large-scale international sport events in sustainable development within host cities, with a focus on the physical legacies that they leave behind. The research seeks to offer guidance to enhance sustainable physical legacy development, informed by Games’ strategy documents, impacts on host cities and professional opinions. The research was conducted using three key methods: an examination of key strategy documents, a literature review of academic and grey literature to record infrastructure projects and interviews with professionals who had worked with four specific Games (Vancouver 2010, London 2012, Gold Coast 2018 and Birmingham 2022).

The findings implied that social infrastructure and transport projects were most commonly recorded and that the sport event industry operates with a Triple Bottom Line understanding of sustainability. Based on the findings, a design thinking framework was used to design and propose guidelines. The guidelines recommend a shift to the 3-nested dependencies model and propose the development of key skills (leadership for sustainability and flexibility) and key actions (sustainability education/communication and audit).

STARKA Betongelement AB is a privately owned company with a focus on manufacturing prefabricated concrete elements. STARKA works with everything from design, manufacturing to the assembly of concrete elements. The process that is mainly studied is their design process, here the different elements are planned to be manufactured and assembled. For the manufacture and assembly, drawings are produced as a basis for this work, these drawings consist of detailed drawings. The creation of these details is currently a time-consuming process; hence, this study aims to develop a more efficient working method that can both make it easier for designers and reduce demanding working hours.

During the work, the design thinking process is followed as a method when developing the solution. The method consists of four primary phases, starting with understanding the problem that has been given. Furthermore, the area of the problem is studied, through various literature studies, observations, interviews and various tests. After forming a good foundation, different ideas are created to solve the problem. Finally, the final solution is implemented at the company and the implementation was evaluated.

Results consist of an AutoLISP-program that consists of all the necessary functions under one program, to create the detailed drawings for production. The functions that appear in the program are as follows: measurement of details, in-cast goods measurement, cut line, reinforcement text and “hitsymbol”. Features and their specifications used in the program have been identified through interviews and observations with the engineers at STARKA.

For assembly drawings, two different solutions have been developed, the first of which tackles engineers' problems in creating complicated details. This is achieved by utilizing the construction’s 3D-model to create the desired detailed drawings. The second solution focuses on generalizing different standard parts and eliminating excess information, such as external dimensions. This in turn creates a better prerequisite for more general details that can be reused in new drawings to save working time.

s a conclusion for production drawings, the work is facilitated by the program consist of all the necessary functions. Since the features have their pre-inserted specifications, there is no need to configure them afterwards and the insertion becomes correct from the first step. The designers have found the solution helpful and have simplified their work by making “handpåläggning” more efficient and reducing working hours. “Handpåläggning” consist of the functions and methods that the engineers at STARKA use to finalize the drawings. Regarding assembly drawings, the use of 3D-models is considered to be very demanding on computers, but good assistance in complicated details. The standard details make it easier to use standard generalized details to avoid creating and editing new ones for each project. 

The grinding rollers of raw mill 7 operate in very harsh conditions and, because of this, suffer from excessive failure mode due to lip seal deterioration. Foreign material penetrates the deteriorated lip seal and enters the bearings resulting in bearing failure. Failure mode brings about high maintenance costs for the cement-producing company Cementa AB. This thesis aims to accomplish two things. 1- Hypothesize a set of root causes for failure mode and link them to existing literature studies to determine what actions should be taken to prevent or at least postpone failure mode. 2- Generate several new conceptual designs for the sealing mechanism by either creating a revolutionary sealing design or taking inspiration from standard seals currently on the market. The generated concepts aim to provide Cementa AB with a new perspective as well as mitigate some or all the root causes for failure mode if implemented.

The hypothesized root causes for failure mode are categorized through the creation of a problem tree and are defined as lip seal failure, lubricative pressure and contamination, tribologically improper friction, vibration, and finally very harsh conditions that are indigenous to raw mills in general and that are seemingly incompatible with the current sealing mechanism. Revolutionary concepts are brainstormed entirely from an experimental perspective, while standard concepts are inspired by established sealing technology on the market. Both alternatives are then conceptually adapted to the grinding roller of raw mill 7 and, with inaccurate scaling, 3D modelled with the aid of Autodesk Inventor.

7 concepts, revolutionary and standard combined, are generated as a result. The revolutionary concepts have been deemed non-viable due to the limited timeframe and scope of the thesis. Instead, the selected seal for the upgrade is a labyrinth seal, which is a non-contact standard seal that has the potential to mitigate many of the root causes for failure mode. The literature studies on the hypothesized root causes also indicate that there are actions that could postpone failure mode should Cementa AB chose to retain the original sealing mechanism for a longer period.

Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilken attityd mindre oberoende företag har till kontanter och betalkort som betalmedel i allmänhet och vid låga köpesummor i synnerhet. I undersökningen kommer vi att studera vid vilken summa som handlarna upplever det som acceptabelt att kunder betalar med betalkort. Metod: Studien har genomförts med hjälp utav en kvantitativ metodansats, då vi ville få en bred förståelse för småföretagarnas syn utav olika betalmedel i allmänhet samt vid betalningar under 100 kronor i synnerhet. För att ta del utav förståelsen kring vår studie utgick vi ifrån det positivistiska synsättet, då vi efterstävar kunskap kring händelser som kan mätas. Vi genomförde enkätundersökningar med ett hundratal företagsägare ur urvalsgruppen för att kunna ta del utav den objektiva verkligheten och för att sedan påvisa denna med hjälp utav den numeriska informationen vi samlat in. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visade att urvalsgruppens inställning till olika typer utav betalmedel vid lägre köpesummor huvudsakligen var att kontanter var att föredra. En slutsats som går dra utifrån detta resultat är att kortbetalningssystemet grundar sig i en felaktig prissättning vid låga köpesummor där bankerna tar ut en procentuellt hög avgift vid varje korttransaktion. För att öka kortbetalningarna vid låga summor krävs det att prisstrukturen ses över något som skulle kunna göras genom att ett subventionssystem upprättas alternativt att banken sänker transaktionskostnaden. För framtida betalmedel visar studiens resultat att det är viktigt att ta i beaktande att det blir ett enhetligt system med en balanserad prissättning.

Studien undersöker de praktiska aspekterna av klimatanpassning i svenska kommuner, med fokus på implementering, hinder och möjligheter i fysisk planering. Syftet är att förstå hur klimatanpassningsåtgärder skapas och implementeras. Undersökningen utgår från två forskningsfrågor: Finns det en skillnad mellan kommunala klimatanpassningsstrategier och deras implementering, och om det finns motsättningar mellan nuvarande planeringsmodeller och klimatanpassning i praktiken.

Studien undersöker Vellinge kommun och Helsingborgs kommuns arbete med klimatanpassning och hur detta tar sig uttryck i två pågående stadsutvecklingsprojekt i respektive kommun.  Som metod för att samla in data används  dokumentstudier och semistrukturerade intervjuer.  Den insamlade datan har sedan analyserats med hjälp av en tematisk analys.

Sett till undersökningens första frågeställning, om det finns en skillnad mellan vad som planeras och vad som faktiskt genomförs,  är svaret att många av de åtgärder som planeras i slutändan genomförs. I Helsingborgsfallet har alla klimatanpassningsstrategier av fysisk natur tagits med i projektet. De översiktliga klimatanpassningsstrategier som saknades i projektet var på grund av att dessa strategier var av en institutionell karaktär och inte relevanta för stadsutvecklingsprojektet. I Vellinge kommun har Mark- och miljööverdomstolen fastställt att den från början planerade sträckningen av inre  skyddsvallar kan genomföras med vissa mindre undantag. När det kommer till de yttre vallarna som omnämns på en strategisk nivå har inga steg tagits mot en implementering.  Utfallet av vilka klimatanpassningsåtgärderna som genomförs förklaras av att det finns flera möjliga tolkningar av vad klimatanpassningsåtgärder ska vara samt vad de ska skydda emot, att de förekommer olika riskbedömningar samt att andra samhälleliga intressen utöver klimatanpassning väger tungt.

Sett till den andra forskningsfrågan, om det finns motsättningar mellan den nuvarande planerings- och styrningsmodellen och klimatanpassning i praktiken, konstateras att den nuvarande modellen ger kommunerna ett stort ansvar för att implementera klimatanpassningen, medan det delade ansvaret för kunskapsunderlag, finansiering, vägledning och tillstånd skapar osäkerheter, intressekonflikter och missförstånd, vilket kan försvåra och fördröja genomförandet klimatanpassningsåtgärder

En hållbar stadsutveckling av våra samhällen anses vara en nödvändighet om vi ska kunnamöta de utmaningar som orsakas av de pågående klimatförändringarna i vår värld. För att viska klara denna omställning krävs det att vårt transportsystem utvecklas på ett hållbart sätt.Våra transporter och resor behöver ske på ett transportsystem som är mer yteffektivt ochutföras på ett sätt som är energisnålt och förbrukar mindre fossila bränslen. Detta behov, ochde mål, strategier och åtgärder för att möta det, ingår i begreppet hållbart resande.

Att öka andelen resor som utförs med gång, cykel och kollektivtrafik är en viktig beståndsdeli att arbetet med att omforma vårt transportsystem utifrån konceptet hållbart resande. Sedan50-talet har vårt transportsystem har anpassats och växt utifrån bilens behov. I dag behöverSveriges kommuner tänka om och prioritera andra, mer klimatvänliga färdmedel i gaturummet.

I den här studien undersöks hur idén om hållbart resande införlivas i två kommuner. Förstgenom att studera hur man arbetar med hållbart resande på en strategisk nivå i deras styr-ochpolicydokument. Detta görs i syfte att studera hur kommunerna har anammat de åtgärder somtidigare forskning har rekommenderat för att framgångsrikt implementera hållbart resande itrafiksystemet. Vidare genomförs en nulägesanalys av kommunernas bebyggelse, därförutsättningarna för att resa med gång, cykel och kollektivtrafik till en av de störresamlingsplatserna i en kommun, evenemangsarenan, undersöks.

Bakgrund: Diabetes mellitus typ 1 är en autoimmun sjukdom som orsakas av att immunförsvaret angriper betacellerna i pankreas vilket medför insulinbrist. Denna formen av diabetes kan enbart behandlas med insulin. Individer som lever med diabetes mellitus typ 1 kan ha en förkortad livslängd, vilket till stor del beror på uppkomna komplikationer till följd av sjukdomen. Individens beslutsfattande gällande levnadsvanor är direkt avgörande för individens hälsa. I sjuksköterskans arbetsuppgifter ingår det att ha ett hälsofrämjande förhållningssätt där samtal om levnadsvanor är av största vikt. Syfte: Syftet med denna studien var att beskriva hur vuxna individer med diabetes mellitus typ 1 upplever att deras levnadsvanor har påverkats av sjukdomen.  Metod: Studien är baserad på en kvalitativ design med en induktiv ansats. Litteraturstudien utgick ifrån fyra patografier och analysen utfördes enligt Graneheim och Lundmans tolkning av kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Resultatet baserades på två huvudkategorier och fem underkategorier. Kategorierna återspeglar vuxna individers upplevelser av hur levnadsvanor har påverkats av sjukdomen diabetes mellitus typ 1. Huvudkategorierna är att behöva planera kostintag och att behöva planera fysisk aktivitet. Slutsats: Resultatet ger en inblick i hur vuxna individer upplever att diabetes mellitus typ 1 har påverkat deras levnadsvanor. Det framkom att sjukdomen har utgjort en ny form av planering kring kosten och den fysiska aktiviteten. Individerna upplevde att förändringar av gamla levnadsvanor var av vikt för att undvika komplikationer som diabetes mellitus typ 1 kan medföra. Resultatet riktar sig i första hand mot vårdpersonal, det kan tillämpas som en vägledning i mötet med patienterna. 

A global transition to renewable energy is required to address the sustainability challenge and mitigate the socio-ecological consequences of climate change. This thesis explores what factors contribute to slowing down the transition to renewable energy in Southeast Asia. The region was chosen due to its rising energy demand, high energy poverty rates and unsustainable energy generation. The objective is to identify what barriers and enablers inhibit and encourage the financing of decentralized solar energy systems (DSES) in the region. 

The study applied a qualitative approach where five exploratory and 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain rich and diverse insights into the current state of DSES within Southeast Asia. The PESTLE analytical framework was used to code the results in a systematic way.

This study found several barriers inhibiting an increased deployment of DSES. These included ineffective regulatory frameworks, systemic corruption and market monopolization of DSES, financial issues related to the small size of projects as well as technical and financial capacity among local actors.

At the same time, the study identified multiple enablers to address these challenges, including policies encouraging transparency and standardization, capacity building for maintenance or financial literacy and falling project costs due to technological innovation.

This master thesis is part of a larger project (Evochip), conducted at Lund University, faculty of engineering, Industrial Production Department (iProd). The project is in collaboration with AB Markaryds metallarmatur and Mistra innovation. In this work, a dynamic cost model has been developed to calculate the manufacturing costs of components made from recycled chips of lead-free brass from the manufacturing processes of AB Markaryds metallarmatur (MMA).

In the current situation, all rejected details and waste materials are sent to the material supplier in southern Europe for recycling. The transport takes place by trucks and the recycling process is based on an energy-intensive melting step. Development projects are currently underway to reuse the chips without melting at sight at MMA´s facilities, but the cost per detail has been unknown for the company. With the help of this thesis, the manufacturing price will be presented. The manufacturing process is divided into a total of 11 different processing stations. To estimate the costs, Jan-Eric Ståhl's dynamic cost model is used. Necessary data and information have been collected using interviews with the employees of the company and through the company's own documentation regarding the production lines. In order to reduce the error margin in the results, suitable Monte Carlo simulations have been performed.

The work is also based on a sustainability perspective. In addition to eliminating transportations by trucks and energy-intensive melting processes for the products, the work also promotes the use and reuse of lead-free brass by pressing metal chips to form new bars. All this in order to avoid leaded brass components due to the negative health effects caused by the lead.

The component investigated in this work is a radiator valve called EVO 10. The valve is found in the company's lead-free standard range. The cost model in this project is dynamic to the extent that it could be applied in the future to other lead-free brass components at MMA.

A comparison of two different concepts is presented in the results section. Concept one represents the current manufacturing system, and concept two, the future compacting technology. Since many of the processing steps are the same for both systems, a comparison was made between the productions of the pellet through the two different concepts. The results show that pellets made according to today's manufacturing system cost 12.75 SEK / detail, and pellets manufactured according to concept two costs 9.61 SEK / detail.

As concept two is dependent on chips from today's manufacturing system, MMA cannot completely switch to compacting chips to new pellets. More work must be done to find a balanced model between the two different manufacturing systems for the best possible results.The results from the Monte Carlo-simulations shows that the manufacturing cost with the chosen parameters and variables is 12.96 SEK/detail.

Professor Philippe Aghion is the 2016 recipient of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research, consisting of 100,000 Euros and a statuette designed by the internationally renowned Swedish sculptor Carl Milles. He is one of the most influential researchers worldwide in economics in the last couple of decades. His research has advanced our understanding of the relationship between firm-level innovation, entry and exit on the one hand, and productivity and growth on the other. Aghion has thus accomplished to bridge theoretical macroeconomic growth models with a more complete and consistent microeconomic setting. He is one of the founding fathers of the pioneering and original contribution referred to as Schumpeterian growth theory. Philippe Aghion has not only contributed with more sophisticated theoretical models, but also provided empirical evidence regarding the importance of entrepreneurial endeavours for societal prosperity, thereby initiating a more nuanced policy discussion concerning the interdependencies between entrepreneurship, competition, wealth and growth.

The aim of the study was to explore university students’ interpretations of chemical content in the form of physical constructions of atomic nuclei. Playdough was chosen as the means for expression, since it provided the students with the task of choosing the number, form, size, shape, and distance of particles. Data was collected in the form of photographs, written explanations as well as ad hoc notes. Data from 64 students was analyzed using the three levels of analysis as presented by Hedegaard and framed within the theories of models. Results show that students’ choices gave rise to 34 variations of the atomic nuclei. The analysis provided two different categories: models with close resemblance to the teaching model and models with less resemblance to the teaching model. Results show the limitations of verbal and written communication and add to the discussion concerning students’ interpretations of the multitude of atomic models used in teaching. The method was indeed a beneficial tool both for students, who could explore the composition of atomic nuclei and isotopes, and for teachers, who could connect their teaching to students’ interpretations of scientific content since the method brings a new level of detail to discussions. Copyright © 2022 Adbo and AAkesson-Nilsson.

Objective: There is a need to develop easy-to-use tools to screen periodontal condition in daily practice. This study aimed to evaluate the FDI World Dental Federation “Chairside Guide” (FDI-CG) developed by the Task Team of the FDI Global Periodontal Health Project (GPHP) as a potential tool for screening. Methods: Databases from 3 centres in Germany, Hong Kong, and Spain (n = 519) were used to evaluate the association of the FDI-CG and its individual items with the periodontitis case definitions proposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) for population-based surveillance of periodontitis. Results: Statistically significant differences were observed among the databases for the prevalence of periodontitis and the items included in the FDI-CG. The FDI-CG score and its individual components were significantly associated with the periodontal status in the individual databases and the total sample, with bleeding on probing showing the strongest association with severe periodontitis (odds ratio [OR] = 12.9, 95% CI [5.9; 28.0], P < .001, for those presenting bleeding on probing >50%), followed by age (OR = 4.8, 95% CI [1.7; 4.2], P = .004, for those older than 65 years of age). Those subjects with a FDI-CG score >10 had an OR of 54.0 (95% CI [23.5; 124.2], P < .001) and presented with severe periodontitis. A significant correlation was found between the different FDI-CG scoring categories (mild, moderate, and severe) and the categories for mild, moderate, and severe periodontitis using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Periodontology criteria (r = 0.57, Spearman rank correlation test, P < .001). Conclusion: The FDI Chairside Guide may represent a suitable tool for screening the periodontal condition by general practitioners in daily dental practice. © 2020 The Authors

Bakgrund: Dagligen möter patienter och vårdpersonal varandra och inte sällan där en av dem eller båda talar endast sitt modersmål eller ett främmande språk. Vårdpersonalens uppgift är att kunna ge vård till patienter även när det talas olika språk. Vårdpersonalen upplevde det svårt att kommunicera med patienter vid språkbarriärer och att säkerheten i vården riskerades. Kunskapen kring en god kommunikation med patienter vid språkbarriärer är något som visat sig vara begränsad och behöver utforskas mer. En god kommunikation där båda parter förstår varandra är en förutsättning för god och säker vård. Vårdpersonalens uppgift är att ge alla en god omvårdnad och involvera patienten i dennes vård vilket blir en utmaning när språkbarriärer uppstår.

Syfte: Att undersöka patienters upplevelse av språkbarriärer i kommunikationen med vårdpersonal.

Metod: En allmän litteraturstudie som utgick från nio kvalitativa artiklar. Artiklarna analyserades enligt Fribergs analysmodell.

Resultat: Efter analysen av artiklarna identifierades fem huvudkategorier: betydelsefullt att få känna sig i centrum, den icke-verbal kommunikationen hade stor betydelse, känsla av vanmakt, brister i informationsutbytet och användning av tolk kan både hjälpa och stjälpa.

Slutsats: Studien visar att patienter upplever missnöje vid språkbarriärer i kommunikation med vårdpersonal men att det finns vissa saker som kan underlätta. Den icke- verbala kommunikation har en avgörande roll för hur patienter upplever språkbarriärerna. Att engagerad, lyhörd och ödmjuk vårdpersonal uppskattas även om parterna inte förstår varandra. Det kom även fram att det inte bara är vårdpersonal utan även patienterna som känner att deras säkerhet riskeras när språkbarriärer finns i kommunikationen.

Aim: To evaluate the effect of different mouth rinses 12 h after rinsing on genuine intra-oral halitosis. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four adults with halitosis were included in a double-blind, crossover, randomized clinical trial. Halitosis was evaluated 12 h after rinsing with placebo and five mouth rinse products containing zinc acetate and chlorhexidine diacetate; zinc lactate, chlorhexidine and cetylpyridinium chloride; zinc acetate and chlorhexidine diacetate with reduced amounts of mint and menthol; zinc chloride and essential oil; and chlorine dioxide using the organoleptic method and a gas chromatograph. Test periods were separated by 1 week. Results: Hydrogen sulphide (H2S), methyl mercaptan (MM) and the organoleptic scores (OLS) were significantly reduced 12 h following rinsing with all substances compared to placebo (P < 0.05). H2S was more effectively reduced after rinsing with zinc acetate and chlorhexidine diacetate and zinc acetate and chlorhexidine diacetate with reduced amounts of mint and menthol compared to rinsing with zinc chloride and essential oil (P < 0.05), and significantly lower values of MM were obtained after rinsing with zinc acetate and chlorhexidine diacetate compared to zinc lactate, chlorhexidine and cetylpyridinium chloride (P < 0.05). The percentage effectively treated individuals (H2S (<112 ppb), MM (<26 ppb) and OLS score <2) varied from 58% percentage (zinc acetate and chlorhexidine diacetate) to 26% (zinc chloride and essential oil). Conclusion: All treatments resulted in reduction in halitosis 12 h after rinsing compared to placebo. H2S and MM were most effectively reduced by zinc acetate and chlorhexidine diacetate.

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of non-surgical periodontal therapy on intra-oral halitosis 3months after therapy. Material and methods: Sixty-eight adults with intra-oral halitosis were included in a case series. Intra-oral halitosis was evaluated at baseline, and at 3months after treatment using the organoleptic scores (OLS), Halimeter (R), and a gas chromatograph. Results: Significant reductions for OLS (p<0.01), total sum of volatile sulphur compounds (T-VSC) (p<0.01) and methyl mercaptan (MM) (p<0.05) values were found after treatment. Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) levels were not significantly reduced. The numbers of probing pockets 4mm, 5mm and 6mm were significantly reduced as a result of therapy (p<0.001). Bleeding on probing (BOP) and plaque indices were also significantly reduced (p<0.001). For the 34 individuals with successful periodontal treatment (BOP<20% and a 50% reduction of total pocket depth) reductions in OLS (p<0.01) and T-VSC scores (p<0.01) were found. Eleven individuals were considered effectively treated for intra-oral halitosis presenting with a T-VSC value <160ppb, a H2S value <112ppb and a MM value <26ppb. Conclusion: Non-surgical periodontal therapy resulted in reduction of OLS, MM and T-VSC values 3months after therapy. Few individuals were considered as effectively treated for intra-oral halitosis.

Offentliga rum som torg har en potential att att åter bli stadens huvudsakliga mötesplatser. De sociala utbyten som sker på torg, att se och bli sedd, är viktigt för människors välmående. Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka vilka faktorer som möjliggör att torg fortsätter upfylla sin viktiga funktion som mötesplatser i städer. 

Metoderna som användes var litteraturstudie, fallstudie, och referensstudie. 

Litteraturstudien resulterade i en kunskapsöversikt som vi tog med oss genom arbetets gång. I referensstudien undersöktes hur tre olika städer analyserar sina torg och vilka analysmetoder som användes. Städerna som valts för referensstudien är, Borås, Skellefteå och Lund. Valet av dessa gjordes för att de tre städerna har stor geografisk sridning och dess analyse kan generera riktlinjer som kan användas oavsett klimatzon eller geografiska läge i Sverige. Utifrån resultatet av referensstudien valde vi analysmetoder för våra valda torg och dess platsanalyser.  

Platsanalys utfördes på Stortorget i Karlskrona och Stortorget i Örebro. Gemensamt för dessa torg är deras storlek samt att en stor yta i dagsläget upptas av parkeringsplatser, samt att motortrafik skapar barriärer för fotgängare och cyklister.

Följande är riktlinjer som vi kommit fram till i vårt arbete vilka vi anser är grundläggande för torg som mötesplatser:

Identitet - Arbeta med platsens identitet för att öka attraktiviteten.

Omgivning - Använda ett holistiskt förhållningssätt och planera torget i samklang med staden.

Utformning - Utgå från människans dimension och behov.

Möblering - Flexibel möblering för social interaktion och välmående.

Användning- Ett torg för alla tillfällen.

Tillgänglighet - med grundoffentlighet.

Detta arbete undersöker utifrån ett teoretiskt perspektiv offentliga rum och vilka funktioner dessa platser anses fylla. Det övergripande syftet har varit att studera hur aspekterna mötesplats och avskildhet behandlas i samband med begreppet offentliga rum. Detta genom att först identifiera flertalet relevanta nyckelord utifrån uppsatsens teoretiska utgångspunkter. Nyckelorden har sedan applicerats på ett empiriskt material, i detta fall Västerås Översiktsplan, för att undersöka vad som framställs som betydelsefullt i och med användningen av offentliga rum. Det som framkommit genom innehållsanalysen är att offentliga rum anses fylla framförallt en viktig funktion i staden. Funktionen som mötesplats. Där människor med olika bakgrund både spontant och planerat ska kunna mötas och umgås. Möten som inte visar sig problematiseras utan enbart ses som något positivt. Undersökningen visar vidare att begreppet avskildhet inte alls lyfts. Liknande begrepp så som rekreation, avkoppling, vila, lugn och ro framhålls dock som viktiga aktiviteter som offentliga rum ska skapa förutsättningar för. Emellertid påvisas att dessa aktiviteter kan komma att hamna i konflikt med andra funktioner, så som mötesplatser, skjutbanor och motorsportanläggningar. Det framkommer slutligen att funktionen av offentliga rum anses bygga på föreställningen om att dessa rum ska utgå från en social grund och att de ska utsätta individer för varandra. Avskildhet och att få vara ifred visar sig istället vara en aktivitet som får utövas i det egna hemmet.

Gear stress analysis and understanding the effect of misalignment and microgeometry is important for gear designers and for those who work in gear maintenance. The misalignment can lead to the higher stress acting in one side of the gear tooth and the micro-geometry modification can improve the stress distribution in the gear teeth. In this research, a helical gear pair was modeled using three different software and tools; LDP, KISSsoft and Abaqus. Three different cases were modeled to study the effect of misalignment and microgeometry. Finally, the results from different tools were presented and discussed. It was observed that the tooth contact analysis software resulted in significantly higher stresses than the FE software. The results have been discussed to understand the differences in the cases obtained from the used tools. The results showed how bad is the effect of the misalignment on the gear mesh and the stress distribution and how the microgeometry modifications are used to compensate that effect.

En utvärdering kan göras på många olika sätt beroende på vad som önskas med den. Det kan bland annat vara önskvärt att ta reda på hur väl mål uppnåtts i ett stadsbyggnadsprojekt, eller så är syftet att undersöka arbetsprocessen för att blottlägga varför eventuella misstag gjorts. Utvärdering kan också användas för att kartlägga lärdomar och insikter som kan vara värdefulla i kommande projekt.

I den här studien djupdyker vi i ämnet om utvärderingar kopplade till stora stadsbyggnadsprojekt i syfte att bidra med en förståelse för hur utvärdering sker i praktiken. Studien är uppdelad i två delar, en kvantitativ och en kvalitativ del. Inom den kvantitativa delen ämnar studien att bringa förståelse över hur vanligt förekommande utvärderingar är i Sveriges 50 största kommuner, vilka typer av utvärderingar som är vanligast, hur de finansieras samt vad de främsta anledningarna är till att inte utvärdera stadsbyggnadsprojekt. Denna del fungerar som ett bakgrundsunderlag för den kvalitativa delen som bidrar till att djupare undersöka specifika utvärderingar för att få svar på hur kommuner arbetar med utvärdering som verktyg för erfarenhetsåterföring till senare stadsbyggnadsprojekt samt belysa hur olika utvärderingar tillämpas inom stadsbyggnadsprojekt och hur de genererar olika resultat. Detta görs genom intervjuer och dokumentstudier kopplade till Bo01, Västra hamnen i Malmö och Kvillebäcken, Backaplan i Göteborg.

Den kvantitativa studien kommer fram till att utvärdering i någon form görs i strax över hälften av kommunerna. Särskilt vanligt är det i de kommuner med fler än 90 000 invånare. Det är främst ex post-utvärderingar som genomförs men även utvärderingar som ämnar att belysa processarbetet är vanliga. Vidare är de främsta anledningarna till att utvärdering inte genomförs brist på tid eller erfarenhet.

I den kvalitativa studien framgår det att den främsta ledstjärnan i samtliga utvärderingar är att de används som ett sätt för planeringen att skapa lärdomar snarare än att bedöma huruvida projekten anses vara lyckade eller misslyckade. Trots detta, är en genomgående tendens i alla utvärderingar att de skiljer sig på flera sätt. Vissa är specifika och utreder utvalda delar av projekt medan andra är mer generella i sin omfattning. Vem det är som har tagit initiativet skiljer sig också åt. Det går att se spår av alla fyra av Vedungs utvärderingsvågor i utvärderingarna men den fjärde vågen, den evidensbaserade, bedöms på det hela taget vara aningen mer framträdande.

This bachelor´s thesis is concearned with explaining and analysing how the concept of förtätning is represented in Swedish municipal documentation. The use of the concept has been explained as complex and varied, and as such, it is of great use to explain how municipal documentation uses the concept in their strategies for land and water use in comparison to each other as well as comparing the result to Boverket and other related research. This by retrieving information through qualitative conventional content analysis from comprehensive planning and other municipal documents. Found in this study is that the concept at face value is found to have little meaning beyond what is initially apparent but is heavily tied to the strategies and desired qualities that the new, and complementary construction, should provide, and promote according to principles related to wellbeing, sustainability, and equality. Critique towards the concept is very lightly touched upon due to the type of documentation that was the basis for this study.

Uppsatsens syfte har varit att ge indikationer på förekommande CSR-verktyg och arbete relaterat till socialt hållbart företagande samt dess effekter inom svenska statliga företag. Genom att relatera de statliga företagens hållbarhetsarbete med dess effekter kan uppsatsen bringa information till detta, hittills, outforskade område samt visa på vilka utfall detta socialt hållbara arbete kan medföra. Uppsatsen använder som ansats och metod jämförande dokumentstudier av tre statliga företag – Apoteket, Systembolaget och Bilprovningen – valda utifrån ett idealistiskt urval till följd av deras framträdande roll inom hållbarhetsarbete bland statliga företag. Insamling av material genomfördes med hjälp av företagens hållbarhetsredovisningar samt andra tillgängliga informationskanaler. Undersökningen visar på både likheter, skillnader och mönster mellan studiens tre statliga företag. CSR-inriktade verktyg och processer existerar inom företagens uttalade strategier och planer, dock finns ett behov att förbättra processer kring uppföljning för att försäkra sig att arbetet drivs igenom enligt planerna samt att lärdomar kan dras från de utfall arbetet medför.

With the rapid growth of wireless communications, the demand for the various multimedia services is increasing day by day leading to a deficit in the frequency spectrum resources. To overcome this problem, the concept of cognitive radio technology has been proposed which allows the unlicensed secondary user (SU) to access the licensed spectrum of the primary user (PU), thus improving the spectrum utilization. Cooperative communications is another emerging technology which is capable of overcoming many limitations in wireless systems by increasing reliability and coverage. The transmit and receive diversity techniques such as orthogonal space–time block codes (OSTBCs) and selection combining (SC) in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) cognitive amplify and forward relay networks help to reduce the effects of fading, increase reliability and extend radio coverage.

In this thesis, we consider a MIMO cognitive cooperative radio network (CCRN) with multiple relays. The protocol used at the relays is an amplify and forward protocol. At the receiver, the SC technique is applied to combine the signals. Analytical expressions for the probability density function (PDF) and cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) are derived. On this basis, the performance in terms of outage probability is obtained. Mathematica has been used to generate numerical results from the analytical expressions. The system model is simulated in MATLAB to verify the numerical results. The performance analysis of the system model is hence done in terms of outage probability.

Modern product development is a complex chain of events and decisions. The ongoing digital transformation of society, increasing demands in innovative solutions puts pressure on organizations to maintain, or increase competitiveness. As a consequence, a major challenge in the product development is the search for information, analysis, and the build of knowledge. This is even more challenging when the design element comprises complex structural hierarchy and limited data generation capabilities. This challenge is even more pronounced in the conceptual stage of product development where information is scarce, vague, and potentially conflicting. The ability to conduct exploration of high-level useful information using a machine learning approach in the conceptual design stage would hence enhance be of importance to support the design decision-makers, where the decisions made at this stage impact the success of overall product development process.

The thesis aims to investigate the conceptual stage of product development, proposing methods and tools in order to support the decision-making process by the building of data-driven decision support systems. The study highlights how the data can be utilized and visualized to extract useful information in design exploration studies at the conceptual stage of product development. The ability to build data-driven decision support systems in the early phases facilitates more informed decisions.

The thesis presents initial descriptive study findings from the empirical studies, showing the capabilities of the machine learning approaches in extracting useful information, and building data-driven decision support systems. The thesis initially describes how the linear regression model and artificial neural networks extract useful information in design exploration, providing support for the decision-makers to understand the consequences of the design choices through cause-and-effect relationships on a detailed level. Furthermore, the presented approach also provides input to a novel visualization construct intended to enhance comprehensibility within cross-functional design teams. The thesis further studies how the data can be augmented and analyzed to extract the necessary information from an existing design element to support the decision-making process in an oral healthcare context.

Solution providers are transitioning from product-centric models to service-oriented solutions. This shift has led to the rise of Product-Service Systems (PSS), which offer a holistic approach by integrating physical products with associated services. However, the inherent complexity and collaborative nature of PSS development present a significant challenge: information gathering, analysis, and knowledge building. This is further amplified in the early stages of PSS development due to data challenges such as uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity. This complicates informed decision-making, potentially leading to the risk of sub-optimal outcomes and impacting the success of final offerings.

This research proposes an AI-powered data analysis approach to address these data challenges and augment the decision-making process of PSS development. The focus is on supporting early-stage decision-making, as decisions made at this stage greatly impact the success of final solutions. The research investigates how data can be utilized and visualized to extract actionable insights, ultimately facilitating informed decision-making.

The presented research demonstrates that AI-powered data analysis effectively supports informed decision-making in early-stage PSS development. By extracting actionable insights from complex data, handling data limitations, and enabling informed strategic decisions, knowledge sharing, and collaboration are facilitated among stakeholders. Furthermore, integrating AI with visualization tools fosters knowledge building and a deeper understanding of system behavior, ultimately leading to more successful PSS solutions. The efficacy of AI-powered data analysis for handling diverse data types across application domains is demonstrated, potentially leading to benefits such as a deeper understanding of system behavior and proactive solution strategies. These advancements contribute to developing decision support systems specifically for PSS development.

Overall, this research demonstrates the efficacy of AI-powered data analysis in overcoming data challenges and empowering decision-makers in early-stage PSS development. This translates to more informed choices, leading to the creation of successful and efficient PSS solutions.

The advent of powered toothbrushes and associated mobile health applications provides an opportunity to collect and monitor the data, however collecting reliable and standardized data from large populations has been associated with efforts from the participants and researchers. Finding a way to collect data autonomously and without the need for cooperation imparts the potential to build large knowledge banks. A solution with Bluetooth low energy technology is designed to pair a powered toothbrush with a single-core processor to collect raw data in a real-time scenario, eliminating the manual transfer of powered toothbrush data with mobile health applications. Associating powered toothbrush with a single-core processor is believed to provide reliable and comprehensible data of toothbrush use and propensities can be a guide to improve individual exhortation and general plans on oral hygiene quantifies that can prompt improved oral wellbeing. The method makes a case for an expanded chance to plan assistant capacities to protect or improve factors that influence oral wellbeing in individuals with mild cognitive impairment. The proposed framework assists with determining various parameters, which makes it adaptable and conceivable to execute in various oral care contexts 

The paper presents an Artificial Intelligence-driven approach to predictive maintenance for Product-Service System (PSS) development. This study focuses on time-based and condition-based maintenance, leveraging variational autoencoders to identify both predicted and unpredicted maintenance issues in autonomous haulers. By analyzing data patterns and forecasting future values, this approach enables proactive maintenance and informed decision-making in the early stages of PSS development. 

The inclusion of interaction terms enhances the model’s ability to capture the interdependencies among system components, addressing hidden failure modes. Comprehensive evaluations demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the developed models, showcasing resilience to noise and variations in operational data. 

The integration of predictive maintenance with PSS development offers a strategic advantage, providing insights into vehicle performance early in the development phases. This empowers decision-makers for efficient resource allocation and proactive maintenance planning. The research highlights the limitations and potential areas of improvement while also emphasizing the practical applicability and significance of the developed models in enhancing PSS development. 

The position of a vehicle is essential for navigation of the vehicle along the desired path without a human interference. A good positioning system should have both good positioning accuracy and reliability. Global Positioning System (GPS) employed for navigation in a vehicle may lose significant power due to signal attenuation caused by construction buildings or other obstacles. In this paper, a novel real-time indoor positioning system using a static camera is presented. The proposed positioning system exploits gradient information evaluated on the camera video stream to recognize the contours of the vehicle. Subsequently, the mass center of the vehicle contour is used for simultaneous localization of the vehicle. This solution minimizes the design and computational complexity of the positioning system. The experimental evaluation of the proposed approach has demonstrated the positioned accuracy of 92.26%. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020.

Position of the vehicle is essential to navigate the vehicle along a desired path without any human interference. Global Positioning System (GPS) loses significant power due to signal attenuation caused by construction buildings. A good positioning system should have both good positioning accuracy and reliability. The purpose of this thesis is to implement a new positioning system using camera and examine the accuracy of the estimated vehicle position on a real-time scenario.

The major focus of the thesis is to develop two algorithms for estimation of the position of the vehicle using a static camera and to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms.

The proposed positioning system is based on two different processes. First process uses center of mass to estimate the position, while the second one utilizes gradient information to estimate the position of the vehicle.

Two versions of the positioning systems are implemented. One version uses center of mass concept and background subtraction to estimate the position of the vehicle and the other version calculates gradients to estimate the position of the vehicle. Both algorithms are sensitive to point of view of the image i.e height of the camera. On comparing both algorithms, gradient based algorithm is less sensitive to the camera view.

Finally, the performance is greater dependent on the height of the camera position for center of mass positioning system, as compared to the gradient positioning system but the accuracy of the systems can be improved by increasing the height of the camera. In terms of the speed of processing, the gradient positioning system is faster than the center of mass positioning system. The first algorithm, based on center of mass has 89.75\% accuracy with a standard deviation of 3 pixels and the second algorithm has an accuracy of 92.26\%. Accuracy of the system is estimated from the number of false detected positions.

This paper presents an approach that utilizes artificial intelligence techniques to identify autonomous machine behavior patterns. The context for investigation involves a fleet of prototype autonomous haulers as part of a Product Service System solution under development in the construction and mining industry. The approach involves using deep learning-based object detection and computer vision to understand how prototype machines operate in different situations. The trained model accurately predicts and tracks the loaded and unloaded machines and helps to identify the data patterns such as course deviations, machine failures, unexpected slowdowns, battery life, machine activity, number of cycles per charge, and speed. PSS solutions hinge on efficiently allocating resources to meet the required site-level output. Solution providers can make more informed decisions at the earlier stages of development by using the AI techniques outlined in the paper, considering asset management and reallocation of resources to account for unplanned stoppages or unexpected slowdowns. Understanding machine behavioral aspects in early-stage PSS development could enable more efficient and customized PSS solutions.

A data analysis method based on artificial neural networks aiming to support cause-and-effect analysis in design exploration studies is presented. The method clusters and aggregates the effects of multiple design variables based on the structural hierarchy of the evaluated system. The proposed method is exemplified in a case study showing that the predictive capability of the created, clustered, a dataset is comparable to the original, unmodified, one. The proposed method is evaluated using coefficient-of-determination, root mean square error, average relative error, and mean square error. Data analysis approach with artificial neural networks is believed to significantly improve the comprehensibility of the evaluated cause-and-effect relationships studying PSS concepts in a cross-functional team and thereby assisting the difficult and resource-demanding negotiations process at the conceptual stage of the design.

Background: Traditionally, assessing the degree of ossification in the epiphyseal plate for growth plate development relies on manual evaluation, which can be inefficient due to the complexities of the distal femoral epiphysis anatomy. Existing methods lack efficient detection techniques.

Method: This study proposes an AI-based decision support system, designed within a product-service system (PSS) framework, to automate ossification assessment and detection of the distal femoral epiphysis in knee magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. The system leverages advanced machine learning techniques, specifically two Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), combined with computer vision techniques. This intelligent system analyzes MRI slices to predict the optimal slice for analysis and identify variations in the degree of ossification within individual datasets.

Results: The proposed method's effectiveness is demonstrated using a set of T2-weighted gradient echo grayscale knee MRI data. The system successfully detects the complex anatomy of the distal femoral epiphysis, revealing variations in the degree of ossification ranging from completely closed/open to fully open/closed regions.

Conclusions: This study presents a robust and efficient AI-based method, integrated within a PSS framework, for measuring the degree of ossification in the distal femoral epiphysis. This approach automates ossification assessment, providing valuable insights for clinical decision-making by clinicians and forensic practitioners. The PSS framework ensures seamless integration of the AI technology into existing workflows.

The invention of closed circuit television (CCTV) has initiated a new trend in high security by video surveillance. More recently, CCTV cameras have been incorporating wireless LAN technology for data transfer purposes by using on chip memory storage until the time of update.

In this thesis, short range communication such as Bluetooth low energy (Bluetooth smart) is used in order to perform simple I/O applications. The two important components of the project are the camera and the Bluetooth module box. An external antenna is designed for the connectivity box and the operating range of the box is deduced by using link budget. The blue cool connectivity box is assessed by defining the capabilities of the box, i.e., simple I/O operations. Field test measurements for the designed antenna provide optimum communication range. The thesis also reviews software simulation tools that are essential for antenna design and path loss modelling. The efficiency of simulated measurements versus real-time measurements are also assessed. The primary target of the thesis is to detail the design of a cost-effective antenna based on link budget calculations and perform basic I/O tasks wirelessly between the blue cool connectivity box and the camera. It is concluded that in future works, advanced operations can be added on to the existing model. It is also suggested that a model for multi floor communication can be designed.

The purpose of this study was to identify ways by which entrepreneurial mobile banking growth could be accelerated in developing countries. An exploratory research method was adopted to identify the facilitators and obstacles to entrepreneurial mobile banking. The finding reveals some facilitators which include government policies and efforts of donor agencies, stiffer competition among banks, need for efficiency and lower cost, telecoms focus on customers retention. While some obstacles include conservative and vague regulation, security issues, underdeveloped infrastructures, lack of interoperability and lack of basic need for financial services. The main contribution of this study is the concise identification of the facilitators and obstacles to entrepreneurial mobile banking especially in developing countries. Suggestion for further study was made. The findings could be useful to policy-makers, donor agencies and other development partners in designing and directing their policies intervention