To Örebro University

In this chapter, by taking the time–credit lag as a starting point, it is possible to analyze how the capitalistic moral economy that spread through the globalization of the cotton industry during the 19th century developed in a unique Swedish context. The argument relies on an illustrative case of a time–credit lag in the production chain that Rydboholm’s factories were a part of, uncovering the specific challenges the company faced when solving this lag, and how different arrangements, such as credit solutions, hierarchical dominance, and coercion, involved different social relations.

Sextortion är en form av korruption och könsbaserat våld. Det innebär att en person missbrukar sin maktposition för att få tillgång till en sexuell tjänst i utbyte mot en tjänst eller förmån som hen har möjlighet att bevilja eller undanhålla i kraft av sin position. Sextortion är en korrupt handling där valutan är sex, och en sexuell handling där utbytet, quid pro quo, medför en form av tvång. Ansvaret för sextortion ligger alltid hos den part som missbrukar sin position (förövaren), och utbytet bidrar till skam, rädsla och osynliggörande genom att offret framställs som ‘medskyldigt’. Sextortion är en kränkning av mänskliga rättigheter och ett missbruk av makt, och måste förstås i relation till de köns- och maktrelationer och -normer som utgör handlingens sammanhang.

This article aims to identify and shed light on areas of possibility and barriers for teachers who want to take on a critical approach to global justice issues (GJI). Fifteen upper secondary school teachers from four schools in Sweden participated in focus groups and discussions during a workshop on decolonial and critical approaches to teaching GJI to explore possibilities and challenges. Participants understand critical approaches as those that challenge mainstream perspectives and see this as both difficult and necessary. They express that there are plenty of opportunities and support to take such an approach in the existing curriculum but also note school-level challenges such as a crowded curriculum and assessment-focused culture. Participants find it difficult to engage the current generation of students in recognising and interrogating mainstream approaches and also in linking local and global responsibilities and concerns whereby GJIs can feel either “too close” or “too far away.” Yet, these teachers are highly motivated to take up the challenge and innovate their teaching accordingly. The research contributes to understanding the possibilities and potential foreclosures regarding how teachers approach GJIs in their classrooms. Overall, our research highlights the need to support, develop and sustain reflexive approaches.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify what factors influence user satisfaction with vocational rehabilitation services among service users in a Swedish context.

Methods: In a randomized control trial, ordinal logistic regression was applied to a dataset of 631 completed questionnaires about the support provided in three different vocational rehabilitation programmes in Sweden—Supported Employment, Case Management and Regular Vocational Rehabilitation.

Results: The factors Person-centeredness, Trust in Support Persons, and Experience that the activities help with getting a job were significant factors of satisfaction among service users. The ordinal logistic regression model explained between 34.3% and 49.9% of the variance in the material, depending on the pseudo R2-measure used.

Conclusions: Service users who experience vocational support as person-centered, experienced trust in their support persons and that vocational rehabilitation activities help with getting a job are more satisfied with the vocational rehabilitation services than are other service users, independent of the vocational rehabilitation models used. Therefore, a person-centered approach is relevant to include in models’ development and service design of vocational rehabilitation.

This study investigates how older adults in Residential Aged Care (RAC) perceive and navigate their sexuality. Employing a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews, it examines older adults’ perceptions of sexuality while living in RAC, the barriers they encounter, and the ways they maintain or adapt their sexuality. Data were collected from 15 participants in Swedish RAC facilities. Nine identified as women and six as men, with a mean age of 87.3. The analysis identified three principal themes: The Sexual Script for Older Adults, Co-creating the Script, and Navigating the Script. These themes highlight how older adults articulate their sexuality, respond to institutional norms, and sometimes resist expectations. The findings suggest that sexuality remains a substantial aspect of life for many older adults, even when they face age-related stigma or institutional limitations. This study underscores the need for RAC to better support the sexuality of older adults and advocates for policies that recognize and facilitate their sexual autonomy and well-being.

Purpose: Organizational trust is often professed to be communication-based, yet organizational research rarely provides methodological frameworks exploring how orientations to trust are articulated in communication. This paper therefore aims to help unpack how positions on trust are articulated in qualitative, conversational data in away that can be useful for future qualitative research into organizational trust.

Design/methodology/approach: The study contributes methodologically by introducing an untapped resource, appraisal analysis, and applying it to focus groups evaluating the pandemic response in Scandinavia.

Findings: The analysis suggests that the emphasis of previous research on rational justifications of trust, commonly via assessments of ability, integrity and benevolence, leaves unexplored stances on trust that are taken more straightforwardly with potential effects on power relations. The study draws attention to suchalternative ways of realizing trust/distrust, with the concepts of simple-assertive evaluation and prescriptive evaluation, which still empower (or oppose) organizations and leaders. In addition, the study disentangles some of the “messiness” of qualitative data by demonstrating how stances on organizational trust involve activity-, agent-, and results-centered evaluations, as well as mixed evaluations.

Originality/value: Through the suggested analytical framework, common challenges with qualitative data, involving ambiguities regarding power, agency and overall dilemma-ridden situations, can be dealt with better. It thereby offers methodological fine-tuning that enables a more exhaustive analysis of trust as acommunication-based process. 

BACKGROUND: Understanding the relationship between mental and physical health conditions is crucial for developing comprehensive healthcare strategies. The putative existence of a general disease factor (d-factor) that underlies the vulnerability to both physical and mental conditions could have important implications for our approach to health assessment and treatment.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the presence and characteristics of a general d-factor in children and adolescents.

METHODS: This Swedish registry-based cross-sectional study included children and adolescents born between 1996 and 2003 with follow-up until 2013. We extracted data on 25 mental and physical health conditions according to the ICD-10 system. To determine the optimal dimensional structure of these conditions, several competing measurement models were tested, including correlated factors, one factor, various bifactor specifications and bifactor exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM).

FINDINGS: The study cohort included 776 667 individuals (mean age 13.96 years, IQR=11.96-16.04; 51% male). The bifactor ESEM model, including a general d-factor and specific mental and physical health factors, provided the best fit to the data compared to alternative models (Comparative Fit Index=0.971, Tucker-Lewis Index=0.962, root mean square error of approximation=0.007 (0.007-0.007)). The d-factor accounted for substantial variance (ω_h=0.582, explained common variance (ECV)=0.498), while specific mental (ω_hs=0.377, ECV=0.373) and physical (ω_hs=0.423; ECV=0.130) factors also indicated additional significant unique contributions.

CONCLUSIONS: This study provided evidence for a multidimensional structure of health in children and adolescents, characterised by a general d-factor underlying both mental and physical conditions, alongside distinct domain-specific factors. These findings have important implications for clinical practice, providing evidence that suggests the need for more integrated approaches to health assessment and treatment that consider the interconnectedness of mental and physical health.

This chapter examines problematic issues concerning the application of EU law and the law of EU Member States in Ukraine and the law of Ukraine in EU Member States. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation has had many unprecedented consequences, including the migration of Ukrainian population to EU countries on an unprecedented scale. From the perspective of private international law, it is a matter of time before such migration will give rise to legal situations with a foreign element within the meaning of private international law, and the relevant rules will need to be applied. In recent years, the number of cases involving a foreign element has increased significantly in the judicial and notarial practice of Ukraine. This raises a number of questions that are classic for private international law: which court/notary has jurisdiction to hear the case? Which law is applicable in a specific situation? How are court decisions and authentic instruments originating in Ukraine or an EU country recognised and enforced? In addition, this chapter examines the existing provisions of Ukrainian law that provide preliminary answers to these questions, EU regulations and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Background: The structure and organisation of Swedish municipal healthcare has been criticised for being fragmented and inefficient. Municipal chief nurses hold overall responsibility for patient safety within municipal healthcare, yet they lack authority over finances and staffing. Their role and responsibilities have not been examined in previous studies. The aim of this study was therefore to explore municipal chief nurses' experiences of obstacles and possibilities in decision-making to ensure patient safety in municipal healthcare.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was used. Data were collected through 15 individual semi-structured interviews with municipal chief nurses, and the results were analysed via qualitative content analysis.

Results: The data analysis yielded an overall theme: Navigating decision-making to ensure patient safety. This overall theme comprised three underlying categories: Unclear role and understanding of the assignment; Impact of organisational level on decision-making mandate; and Knowledge, competence, and experience in patient safety work.

Conclusion: There was a lack of clarity regarding the municipal chief nurses' assignments in the municipal healthcare organisation. The participants felt that their organisations had insufficient knowledge of healthcare, and it became evident that organisational placement and their own competence affected their decision-making regarding healthcare and patient safety. Some noted that the organisation's shortcomings could be advantageous, providing them with a scope for action. Consequently, the informants had to navigate in the system and find alternative ways to ensure patient safety.

Clinical trial registration: Not applicable.

Microscopic colitis (MC), divided into lymphocytic colitis (LC) and collagenous colitis (CC), is an inflammatory bowel condition with an unknown cause that commonly afflicts older women. Unlike ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, MC patients have a decreased risk of developing colorectal cancer. The adaptive immune response in MC patients was investigated to elucidate the role of CD8+ T cells.

Luminex analyses were performed in patients with MC, UC and controls. Paper I measured immunomodulatory molecules such as immune checkpoints in serum and colonic biopsies. Paper II examined mediators produced by CD8+ T cells in addition to other chemokines and cytokines in colonic biopsies from MC and UC patients.

In paper I, soluble levels of IDO, PD-1, TIM-3, 4-1BB, CD27 and CD80 were decreased in MC compared to controls, whereas IL-2R∝ and 4-1BBL were increased. In biopsies, increased levels of CTLA-4, PD-1, PD-L1, PD-L2, 4-1BB, APRIL, BAFF and IL-2R∝ were detected whereas levels of TIM-3 and CD27 were decreased in MC patients compared to controls.

In paper II, colonic levels of granzyme B and CCL5 were higher in CC than UC, CCL4 and CD163 were increased at similar levels in CC and UC, and MMP-1, MMP-3 and TNF-RII levels were increased in CC and UC compared to controls. MC and UC patients had increased levels of 4-1BB and perforin. Gp130 and IL-6R∝ were decreased in MC compared to controls.

These studies suggest the presence of an active immunological responsein MC involving CD8+ T cells and different disease mechanismsin MC and UC.

Våren 2024 fick handledare vid Örebro universitet och Region Örebro län i uppdrag att skapa en ny högskolepoänggivande kurs i klinisk handledning, som sedan startade under höstterminen 2024. Kursens målgrupp är kliniker inom vårdprofessioner som utbildar studenter på grund- och avancerad nivå vid Örebro universitet, eller utbildar ST-läkare.

Förutom att ge färdigheter och förmågor inom klinisk handledning så syftar kursen också till att stärka deltagarnas interprofessionella handledarskap. Exempel på pedagogiska verktyg som används i syfte att stärka det interprofessionella handledarskapet är:

Lärare från olika professioner samverkar med varandra under varje undervisningsmoment.Lärare från flera vårdprofessioner är representerade.Kursen utnyttjar kliniska erfarenheter inom respektive profession men undervisningen innehåll är generellt för klinisk handledning.Deltagare från olika professioner blandas i grupparbeten och i rummet.Vid bikupor lyfts erfarenheter från olika professioner fram och deltagarna besvarar frågor utifrån respektive profession.En vetenskaplig artikel om interprofessionell handledning inläses som förberedelse, med reflektioner kring hur deltagarna bäst kan samverka interprofessionellt.Den här postern visar hur vi lärare har använt olika verktyg för att lyfta fram visionen om att stärka ett interprofessionellt handledarskap utan att kompromissa med kursens övriga mål. Vi tror att interprofessionella aspekter på handledningsfrågor är särskilt viktiga när kurser ges med deltagare från olika vårdprofessioner och där en del av kursens pedagogik syftar till att reflektera kring och dela med sig av sina egna professionserfarenheter i handledarskapet.

The purpose of this report is to contribute to an understanding of the technological, institutional, and social conditions that affect language learning and the different ways that adults can undertake the activity of language learning over two to four years within these conditions.

Data for this report was collected between 2012 and 2016 from twelve learners enrolled in beginner-level courses in foreign languages taught by distance at a regional Swedish university. From asynchronous and synchronous computer-mediated interviews over this period, a narrative of each subject’s learning process was constructed to illustrate language learning contexts and trajectories. These contexts and trajectories are conceptualized through the personal learning environment (PLE) placed in an activity-theory (AT) framework. The PLE encompasses contextual factors that can affect the learning process, rather than focusing solely on ICT tools, to contribute to an understanding of how new tools can interact with old tools and with the other affordances and constraints in a learner’s surroundings. This report reveals some of the contradictory pressures that teachers, curricula, institutions, social welfare systems and ICT can exert on a PLE.

Previous longitudinal and narrative research on language learning is described and placed in the AT framework to identify the factors relevant to the PLE and organized according to the AT features of subjects, objects, tools, rules, community, and division of labor as well as evidence of change over time.

Both the previous research and the empirical material analyzed in this report illustrate the significant role played by communities in shaping language-learning goals. Teachers can be seen as part of the target language community and play an important role in defining the kinds of tasks that make language studies interesting and relevant to learners’ goals. Learning institutions exert pressure on teachers through curricula and program requirements. Other institutional structures determine how education is funded, which can create situations in which learners intentionally choose courses or institutions whose curricula do not match their own learning goals.

While learners express a preference for campus studies, in many cases online distance courses are the only learning form that allows for a given learner to engage in institution-based learning. However, the further a learner gets from an institution, the more difficulties they may encounter, with some online tools becoming inconvenient, incompatible, or unreliable across borders and time zones.

Social media can bring learners in contact with TL communities from afar, but it can also keep some learners from engaging in local TL communities fully.

In short, adult foreign language learners’ PLEs and trajectories within university distance education in Sweden in the 2010s can take many different configurations depending on an individual learner’s own goals and personal objectives, location, and even health.

This study examines the question of how language teachers in a highly technology-friendly university environment view machine translation and the implications that this has for the personal learning environments of students. It brings an activity-theory perspective to the question, examining the ways that the introduction of new tools can disrupt the relationship between different elements in an activity system. This perspective opens up for an investigation of the ways that new tools have the potential to fundamentally alter traditional learning activities. In questionnaires and group discussions, respondents showed general agreement that although use of machine translation by students could be considered cheating, students are bound to use it anyway, and suggested that teachers focus on the kinds of skills students would need when using machine translation and design assignments and exams to practice and assess these skills. The results of the empirical study are used to reflect upon questions of what the roles of teachers and students are in a context where many of the skills that a person needs to be able to interact in a foreign language increasingly can be outsourced to laptops and smartphones.

This article aims to contribute to an understanding of how social and institutional factors affect the language learning environments of university students studying less-commonly taught languages (Turner, 1958), at beginner level by distance online. The empirical material is drawn from longitudinal case studies of students who enrolled in beginner-level distance courses in LCTLs at a regional Swedish university in the early 2010s. The study supports previous research illustrating the importance of sociocultural factors in learning activities. Furthermore, the study adds to research showing that for LCTLs an online learning context provides affordances that simply may not exist in campus settings and makes the study of LCTLs accessible to people for whom it would otherwise not be, an important contribution to linguistic diversity. The novel finding of this study is the direct and clearly articulated effect of different policies and frameworks on individuals’ choices of how, when and where to study, which suggests a need to examine further the ways that government and supranational entities shape the decisions made by adult learners.

Polarisation and an increased blending of politics and fiction in various media outlets makes audiovisual storytelling and politics increasingly intertwined. This article presents the first systematic literature review of what we know about the relationship between audiovisual fiction and democracy. We investigate how articles conceptualise 1) democracy and 2) the relationships between politics, fiction, and audiences. We find that most articles implicitly assume a taken-for-granted liberal representative democracy, rather than elaborate on particularities. Further, extant research tends to find that fiction relates to democracy primarily by the way it may impact political opinions, attitudes, and behaviour under certain circumstances, or by contributing to constructing identities and belongings that can either enhance or diminish democratic values. Finally, some research elaborates on how cross-media flows makes fictional elements part of democracy movements.

The digital age requires people of all ages to communicate and organise their lives through digital technologies. The project EQualCare (“Alone but connected? Digital (in)equalities in care work and generational relationships among older people living alone”) investigated how the growing population of older people living alone is man-aging this transition, how it shapes their (non-)digital social networks and what changes on local, regional, national and international levels need to be brought about to ensure (digital) equality. This white paper gives insight into the multi-method work that was done, summarises key findings, and provides recommendations for policy and practice.

EQualCare was a cross-cultural comparison and collaboration across Finland, Ger-many, Latvia and Sweden, with Finland and Sweden as two countries advanced in the digitalisation of civic and private life and thus providing a helpful contrast to Germany and Latvia that are at different levels of digitalisation. Their joint work comprised of four parts: 

• To begin with all four national researcher teams conducted respective critical document analyses of social policy documents and legislation, examining how ageing, living alone, digitalisation, and care-responsibilities are portrayed in the national policy documents. 

• Following, an analyses of existing national and EU data sets on ageing took place to draw comparative information on living conditions, income, health, use of dig-ital devices, and care work across the four countries. 

• The central part of EQualCare entailed a participatory action research (PAR) project that was conducted across the four countries and involved older people as co-researchers in nine local project teams. 

• The model of EQualCare was a participatory policy making one, whereby the work of one of the PAR projects was connected with the others, with the findings from the policy analyses and statistical analyses providing the backdrop and scaf-folding to develop the recommendations.

The project team was strongly multidisciplinary; bring together experienced re-searchers in anthropology, business organisation and management studies, cultural studies, education, gender studies, psychology, social psychology, social work and sociology.

Gender-based violence (GBV) at work or study place often falls outside of the mainstream violence research interests. However, it is now well established that violence is far from rare in work and workplaces, in organisations, and for certain occupations. This is all the more so when violence is understood in a broad sense to include harassment, bullying, psychological violence, and further violations, as in feminist conceptualisations of GBV. In this paper, we address GBV in a particular arena which, it would be hoped, would be designed to enhance well-being, safety, knowledge and education: namely, higher education (HE) and research performing organisations (RPOs). Importantly, from our perspective, HE and RPOs are not only educational and research sites, but also need to be understood as work, workplace, employment, occupational, organisational, professional and managerial sites. We draw on recent research within the EU funded UniSAFE, a large multi-country research and innovation project on GBV in HE and RPOs. UniSAFE has aimed to provide reliable, comparable data on different forms of gender-based violence in HE and RPOs in order to understand the extent of the problem among staff and students, assess institutional responses, and develop tools to address that problem. The materials include a survey of prevalence and consequences of GBV in HEI and RPOs (n=42 000), in-depth case studies, a strategic mapping of GBV policy and measures in 46 HEI and RPOs , and a mapping of national policy on GBV in HE.

High-resolution imaging is essential in remote sensing and geoscience for precise environmental and geological analysis. DR-SCAN (Dual-Branch Residual Spatial and Channel Attention Networks), a neural network architecture for image super-resolution across these domains, is introduced. Evaluated on the UCMerced Land Use and DeepRock-SR datasets, DR-SCAN demonstrates adaptability to diverse remote sensing landscapes and effectiveness in resolving pore-scale geological features. Feature map visualizations highlight the model’s ability to prioritize crit-ical spatial features, enhancing interpretability for domain-specific applications.

Introduction: Listeria monocytogenes causes listeriosis and often exhibits resistance to cadmium. While multiple cadmium resistance genes have been identified, our understanding of the full landscape of cadmium resistance determinants is far from complete.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate cadmium resistance genes via genome-wide screening of cadmium-resistant L. monocytogenes from human listeriosis in Sweden.

Methods: Thirty-two cadmium-resistant isolates were subjected to the whole genome sequencing. Plasmid-borne contigs were identified in silico and cadmium resistance genes were found by BLAST2 with known cadmium resistance genes and pan-genome analysis. These genes were compared and the deduced proteins were aligned with the prototype proteins, bootstrapped, and visualized. To determine the location of the genes, the DNA sequences including flanking regions were compared with each other and, for chromosomal cadmium resistance genes, with the complete genome of strain F2365.

Results: We identified three known cadmium resistance operons (cadA1C1, cadA2C2, and cadA4C4) and two that were novel (cadD8A8 and cadA9C9). cadA1C1 was found most frequently and was plasmid borne, except for one CC101 strain that harbored a cadA1C1-harboring chromosomal island. Chromosomal islands with cadmium resistance genes also included the previously characterized LGI2 (cadA4C4 and arsenic resistance genes) and a novel island harboring cadA9C9 and an arsenic resistance gene. All cadA9C9-positive strains lacked plasmids and other cadmium resistance operons. Our analysis also identified cadA10, which was chromosomally harbored by all strains in our panel and the cadmium-susceptible strain F2365, suggesting that it mediates innate baseline resistance of L. monocytogenes to cadmium.

Significance: Our findings highlight the complex distribution of cadmium resistance genes within L. monocytogenes, which will help us understand the genes that facilitate ecological adaptations, potentially leading to persistence in the environment and increased risk of L. monocytogenes-contaminated foods and foodborne infections.

The essay begins by highlighting some characteristics of the recurring discussions about the environmental educational possibilities of nature encounters. We situate this within the social climate of the 1970s with its discussion of alternatives to the prevailing model of development and where, among other things, deep ecological perspectives were important. Against this background, we then delve into a case study of the outdoor association Argaladei during the 1970s, with the motto "friluftsliv [outdoor life] is a lifestyle". Based on the association’s combination of social criticism, outdoor life and pedagogy, we highlight some central themes that we suggest offer possible inspiration for our current need for civic support for a green transition to more sustainable model of development.

Purpose: This paper follows how a Swedish municipality builds their management control infrastructure over 25 years – from the early 1990s to the middle of the 2010s; complemented by a revisit in 2023. The analysis builds on Power’s (2015) framework on “how accounting begins.” As such, it will show the process in which objects such as quality, competence, fairness and economy (1) start their journey as abstract policy objects – promises or dreams, but also as problems – that should be achieved by the municipal organization; (2) begin to take on more concrete forms as they become elaborated, activities are orchestrated and an increasingly stable infrastructure is built around them and (3) achieve multiplicity in ways that make the daily work of practitioners highly complex, leading them to engage in strategizing. This makes accounting continue: once this long and arduous process is worked through, when the infrastructure has stabilized, and the strategizing behavior is learned, this three-step process moves much faster.

Design/methodology/approach: This study is a longitudinal case study over 25 years in one municipal organization: the city of Stockholm – capital of Sweden. We begin in 1991, which is the approximate start of a shift in Stockholm from an old public administration model (Hood, 1991) toward NPM, and we end in 2016, with a post script 2023, when this shift has proceeded into something slightly new and different. Our research engagement with the city of Stockholm has been long-standing: since the early 1990s, we have been conducting five larger research projects on different aspects of management control (for example, the introduction of competition or the decentralization reform) and we have had continuous exchange with city officials and co-workers through workshops and participative observations. For the purpose of this study, we focus on the data from the five research projects and the reading of all budget documents and annual reports from 1991 to 2016.

Findings: The findings extend the framework by Power (2015) in a way that helps us understand how accounting continues. Accounting continues for three interrelated reasons: (1) because of the foundational work that is done over a long time, and according to Power’s (2015) model, where objects such as quality, competence and economy go from existing in abstract programmatic forms to more concrete technological ones around which activities can be orchestrated and where exercises involving learning and collaboration are key. (2) Because such learning and collaboration allow practitioners – professionals and accountants – to engage in strategizing the system in different ways that make it functional. Such strategizing can be argued to be part of the broader infrastructure – not only the “highways” but also the shortcuts and scenic detours are part of it. (3) Because such strategizing makes top managers and politicians think that the system works in rather unproblematic ways – they never see the struggles that go on “the lower levels” of organization. The argument of this paper is that the focus on the outside world and the interest to extend the system by incorporating more and more objects in programmatic forms that we see on the political level in the third period is a sign of further diffusion by accounting: because the system seems to work so well, it can be extended to new parts of the world. And this is how accounting continues.

Research limitations/implications: From the empirical data, we have derived three periods, which can be seen as three phases of building the infrastructure. We see these periods as struggles to gain knowledge about what the organization should provide and an ongoing engagement to build an infrastructure that would support the delivery of the identified objects quality, economy, fairness and competence. These periods could, of course, be divided in different ways. However, as we interpreted the patterns in our data, this dividing of the data seemed reasonable.

Practical implications: In the first chapter of their book, Lapsley and Miller (2024, p. 4) provide a quote from 1983 by an NPM proponent. This proponent depicted the old public administration model, which institutions like, e.g. the NHS, were built upon, as “‘a mobile’: designed to move with every breath of air, but which infact never changes its position and gives no clear indication of direction.” Exactly the same thing can be said about the NPM-related infrastructure we have analyzed. Funck and Karlsson (2023) are obviously right when they argue that proponents of post-NPM movements echo the concerns of NPM proponents “back in the days.” We add to this by arguing that NPM has become what it was supposed to replace: a directionless mobile, maintaining status quo while allowing for strategic behavior (Caffrey et al., 2019). What we learn from NPM’s early days is that no “radical rethinking” (Parker et al., 2023) or “imaginaries” (Funck and Karlsson, 2023) can change this: what is needed, for a real paradigm shift, is the introduction of new problems and new experimentation on the practical level. What remains, both from a practical and academic point of view, would be to discuss what constitutes “enough experimentation”? What can be introduced today that is as disruptive as the introduction of, e.g. tender documents, purchaser/provider models, profit units, etc. during the implementation of NPM? These questions might have to be answered – otherwise accounting will continue to perform as is.

Originality/value: We believe a relevant contribution with the paper is the longitudinal character of the method.

This field study examined how customer-employee interactions are affected by the congruency between an employee's gender and the perceived gender image of the consumption context in one of the most gender equal cultures in the world (Scandinavia). Mystery shoppers had a service encounter with an employee across a set of physical commercial settings that were classified according to their gender image. The mystery shoppers noted the gender of the employee, provided employee evaluations, and indicated word-of-mouth (WOM) ratings. Shoppers who had a gender congruent service encounter (e.g., a female employee in a "feminine" consumption context) reported more favorable employee evaluations and WOM ratings than shoppers who had a gender incongruent service encounter (e.g., a female employee in a "masculine" consumption context), with the impact of gender congruency on WOM ratings mediated by employee evaluations, particularly with respect to competence inferences. These findings highlight the ethical dilemma of a positive gender congruency effect, as it can generate superior consumer responses but also risks resulting in gender occupational segregation.

Purpose: This study aims to explain the effects of different types of innovations on organizational performance in terms of firms' external effectiveness and internal efficiency. The study examines the interrelationship of technical and nontechnical innovations in complex services and the mediating effect of customer participation on the relationship between innovation type and organizational performance.

Design/methodology/approach: The study draws on a neo-Schumpeterian model for innovation to examine the complex service setting of healthcare provision. Data from Statistics Sweden, containing 38 hospitals and 242 primary care units in Sweden, provided the study's results.

Findings: The findings show the importance of combining different types of innovations in complex services, demonstrating a mediating effect of nontechnical innovation on both the relationship between technical innovations and external effectiveness and internal efficiency. Moreover, the results show that customer participation has a positive mediating effect for technical innovation and nontechnical innovation on external effectiveness. However, there is no such significant effect on internal efficiency.

Research limitations/implications: The findings are based on self-assessment data, which has inherent limitations. The innovation data used were cross-sectional, which may lack reliability (although self-assessed data counter this risk to some extent).

Practical implications: Managers should pursue both technical and nontechnical innovations for gains in external effectiveness and internal efficiency. However, complex services call for technical innovations to be accompanied by nontechnical innovations to support positive effects. The results cause a dilemma for managing customer participation in complex services. As the results show customer participation resulting in external effectiveness, they also fail to establish an effect on internal efficiency.

Originality/value: The primary contribution is to add to the knowledge of different types of innovation in complex services by demonstrating their interdependent effects on both external effectiveness and internal efficiency. Furthermore, the study tests and advances the mediating effect of customer participation in complex services on organizational performance.

Employee proactivity has been discussed as a key predictor of firm success and organizational performance. However, previous proactivity research has rarely focused on customers, and the few available proactivity studies from retail settings are either cross-sectional, solely based on subjective outcomes (e.g. customer satisfaction) or restricted to aggregated data of objective outcomes (e.g. profits per store). We investigate the causal effect of employee proactivity in retail service encounters on customers' actual purchase behaviour and satisfaction ratings at the fine-grained level of individual customers. By integrating theories on social perception with prior proactivity findings, we find that employee proactivity positively predicts customers' shopping responses. This finding extends from correlational to experimental designs across sample types and paradigms, is replicated in actual retail settings, and is mediated by customers' perceptions of employee warmth and competence. Furthermore, the effect generalizes across several focal outcomes, including behavioural variables (spending and purchase likelihood), and is moderated by the time to employee-initiated contact in a way that goes against customers' own beliefs. In sum, the present research quantifies the financial consequences of employee proactivity and indicates that in ordinary retail service encounters, high proactivity can compensate for delays, thus counteracting the aversive aspects of waiting.

Hope is defined as the capability to pursue a desired goal by leveraging one's abilities and potential pathways to goal attainment. This study aims to (1) chart and integrate conceptualizations and operationalizations of hope in travel and well-being research, and (2) investigate the relationship between hope and travel behaviour, as well as its associations with well-being concepts relevant to travel behaviour research, as a base for developing a Travel-Hope Framework. A scoping review was conducted with the following inclusion criteria: (i) adult participants, (ii) validated hope scales, (iii) relevance to travel behaviour and well-being research, (iv) written in English, and (v) peer-reviewed. A systematic search identified 13 studies on hopes conceptualizations and measurement. While none explicitly explored its link to travel behaviour, hope was associated with cognitive, emotional, and social well-being components relevant to travel behaviour research. Building on these insights, we introduce the Travel-Hope Framework, which posits that hope - particularly in the form of travel autonomy and perceived accessibility, and experience and anticipation - is essential for behaviour change and well-being. By illuminating the role of hope in travel decision-making, this framework provides a novel perspective for travel research and policy. Understanding the dynamic interplay between hope, travel and well-being can inform targeted interventions to improve commuting experiences, foster equitable accessibility, and promote sustainable travel choices.

This thesis investigates the Viennese pianist, composer, and pedagogue Carl Czerny’s approach to piano improvisation in his Systematische Anleitung zum Fantasieren op. 200 (1829) and Die Kunst des Präludirens op. 300 (1834). Most research on eighteenth and nineteenth-century keyboard improvisation has been focused on the prominent role of thoroughbass-based, standardized harmonic patterns in the improvisation pedagogy of these eras, and on techniques for figuration and contrapuntal elaboration of such patterns. The present work is founded on the insights of previous research, but it is mainly concerned with the central role of genres, styles, and characters in Czerny’s approach to improvisation. With this shift of focus, an essential and hitherto neglected part of the craft of improvisation that Czerny teaches is disclosed.

For Czerny, the style and character of an improvisation should be akin to an English garden—seemingly ruleless but based on rational principles. Through a close reading of his method, the present dissertation shows how this English garden ideal is concretely expressed in Czerny’s approach to fantasizing.

The thesis situates Czerny’s method in relation to ideas from the tradition of rhetorically influenced, genre-based rule-poetics—a perspective that has not received enough attention in previous research on Czerny and early nineteenth century piano improvisation. The study investigates the meanings and implications of the interplay between genre-based rule poetics, transformative imitation, and the aesthetic ideal of the English garden in Czerny’s approach. The thesis thus offers new insights into Czerny's conception of imitation and models, as well as into how genres, style types, and transformation strategies are governed by aptum (appropriateness) criteria.

The study argues that Czerny’s improvisation method amounts to a pedagogy for stylistic appropriateness. But it also shows how Czerny incorporates pre-romantic notions of spontaneity into his rule-regulated genre system, thus interpreting spontaneity as a form of craft. In other words, Czerny’s instruction on fantasizing conveys rules for a seeming rulelessness.

This dissertation is an exploration of conditions that afford and constrain how adults undertake activities connected with learning less commonly taught languages (LCTLs), which are languages other than English, Spanish, French, and German. The overarching aim of this dissertation is to describe how different factors in the environments of adults learning LCTLs affect the ways that those learners engage with the target languages over time. The intended contribution of this dissertation is to provide insights to help educational policymakers, institutions, teachers, and learners make choices that better support the goal of plurilingualism. Among the findings of the four studies that comprise the empirical portion of this dissertation is the idea that learners actively and strategically choose a wide variety of tools for their personal learning environments, some of which afford new ways of conducting language learning operations. Digital tools do not replace the work of language learning but create opportunities to do the work in different ways. There is no single learning or teaching method that is best for all learners, and learners should always keep looking for different types of tools, human relationships, and courses that can help them meet their language learning goals. In a digital landscape with many opportunities for self-study, teachers continue to be valued for providing explanations, structure, benchmarks and feedback. The findings also indicate the importance of the availability of distance education for LCTLs. The personal learning environments of adult learners of LCTLs depend on the kinds of tools, communities, and institutions available to them, and reducing structural barriers to different kinds of adult education is crucial to achieving national and international goals for plurilingualism.

Mäns våld mot kvinnor i nära relation är ett omfattande samhällsproblem. Barn som lever i familjer där fäderna eller styvfäder utövar våld mot barnens mödrar utsätts också för våldet. För att möjliggöra barns och kvinnors frigörelse kan de behöva riskhanteringsåtgärder i form av skydd- och stödinsatser från socialtjänsten eller polisen. För att öka åtgärdernas genomförbarhet behöver både barnens och mödrarnas behov identifieras och beaktas. Syftet med avhandlingen är att fördjupa förståelsen för barn i frigörelsen från våld genom att analysera behovet och genomförbarheten av riskhanteringsåtgärder i kontexter av mäns våld mot kvinnor i nära relation. Avhandlingen bygger på intervjuer med våldsutsatta mödrar och ungdomar, dokumenterade polisförhör med barn och en forskningsöversikt om barns erfarenheter av socialarbetare. De olika materialen har bidragit till att olika aspekter av barns behov har kunnat studerats utifrån flera perspektiv. Resultaten visar att barns behov formas av deras sårbarhet och möjlighet till motstånd. Patriarkala maktordningar kan förstärka sårbarheten och minskar både barnens och mödrarnas möjlighet till frigörelse. Genomförbarheten av riskhanteringsåtgärder kan dock öka genom tillgängliga professionella som har en holistisk förståelse av våld där barns relationella utsatthet inkluderas, samt mödrars och barns möjlighet att bryta med våldsutövaren. Genom att erkänna barns och mödrars relationella sårbarhet och dess koppling till maktstrukturer kan åtgärder breddas för att möjliggöra mer omfattande och inkluderande skydd och stöd. Avhandlingen understryker dock vikten av att riskhantering inte bara handlar om att skydda, utan också om att stärka barns och mödrars förmåga att agera och utmana makten i våldet.

Syftet med studien är att belysa vilka kunskaper och erfarenheter, relevanta för ett kulturellt mångfaldigt undervisningssammanhang, som musiklärarstudenter tillgodogjort sig och bär med sig efter deltagande i internationellt utbyte. Det slag av internationellt utbyte som avses och undersöks i studien har inte tidigare undersökts i nordisk musikpedagogisk forskning; att vistas i ett annat land i syfte att, inom ramen för sin ordinarie musiklärarutbildning, ta del antingen av en annan musiklärarutbildning eller av musikkurser inom högre utbildning.

Bakgrunden är fyrfaldig: lärare behöver en utvecklad kompetens i relation till den kulturella mångfald som råder i grundskolan i Sverige; musikundervisning i grundskolan ska vara mångfaldig och utmana elevernas muskaliska erfarenheter; förberedelse inför arbete i ett kulturellt mångfaldigt undervisningssammanhang förefallar vara, eller ha varit, bristfällig inom lärarutbildning och musiklärarutbildning; utbytesprogram kan ha som ambition att förbereda studenter för, samt hjälpa dem uppnå kompetens att, arbeta i ett globalt sammanhang och nå ett globalt perspektiv på sitt studieområde. 

Kvalitativa intervjuer har genomförts med nio musiklärarstudenter som studerat vid fyra av landets sju musikhögskolor och deltagit i fem olika utbyten i fem olika länder. Det empiriska materialet har analyserats genom tematisk induktiv analys. Med hjälp av studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt interkulturellt lärande fördjupades analysen. Studien visar bland annat följande: att kontrasteras har gett kunskaper i och om musikpedagogisk, musikalisk och musikdidaktisk mångfald; utifrån erfarenhet av att leva med ett annat språk har reciprokt tänkande utvecklats. Det förstnämnda kan tillämpas i en varitationsrik musikundervisning vars musikaliska innehåll är mångfaldigt. Det nästnämda kan tillämpas genom att sätta sig in i exempelvis en nyanländ elevs situation och behov. Genom utbytesstudierna vunnen förståelse för 'den Andre' finns representerad i tillämpning av både kunskaper och erfarenheter.

This paper analyzes how the IPCC understands and addresses with risk and uncertainty. First, it discusses the IPCC’s formal and explicit view on how it understands, manages, and communicates risk and uncertainty in its knowledge assessments. This is done through an analysis of the documents that the IPCC has produced on the subject. The analysis reveals that the IPCC has an ambitious yet complicated system for identifying, assessing, and managing risk and uncertainty. The paper then explores how IPCC experts – researchers appointed by the IPCC to conduct its knowledge assessments – view this system and use it to determine risk and uncertainty. This is done through an interview study with IPCC experts. The analysis indicates that there are tensions in the way knowledge, uncertainty, and risk are viewed. Interviewees made limited reference to the IPCC’s formalized view of risk and uncertainty, but based on the little they did say, it appears to help them manage not only risk and uncertainty, but also internal disagreements and divergent research traditions. Finally, the paper draws conclusions about the challenges that the IPCC will face and need to address regarding risk and uncertainty.

In the third year of Swedish upper secondary school, students choose if they want to attend English 7; an optional course that incurs a credit increment which improves the chance of being admitted to university. The third-year course is the first that includes texts used in higher education and content of a scientific nature in the syllabus, yet the effects English 7 has on students’ language proficiency and level of preparedness for reading course literature in English remain unexplored. In this mixed methods study, descriptive and inferential statistics are combined with qualitative content analysis to analyse questionnaire and interview data from more than 300 upper secondary school and university students. The results suggest English 7 appears to act as a bridge between upper secondary school with students who attended English 7 significantly better prepared to read course literature in English at university. However, English 7 is also perceived as an elite course that is not for everyone, with students who need it the most to improve their English opting not to attend, leading to the conclusion there is a need to reevaluate the role of English 7. 

This thesis takes an interest in the literacy practices in a Special Educational Needs (SEN) classroom for grades 7-9 in a compulsory school, where most students are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The diagnosis ASD often implies difficulties related to print literacy as well as deficits in social interaction (ICD5), and many of these students show a relatively low rate of passing grades in school. A possible explanation for this is that social interaction and literacy are considered as key abilities in the view on learning in the Education Act, and therefore crucial for reaching the knowledge requirements stated in the curricula. The relation between the difficulties implied by the diagnosis and necessary abilities for reaching knowledge requirements in school constitutes a special educational dilemma. Considering this dilemma, the aim of this study is to make visible, from a relational perspective, the prerequisites for participation in literacy practices in a SEN group for students diagnosed with ASD. The research question is: What obstacles and opportunities for participation in the classroom literacy practices appear for the focus students? The empirical material was produced through an ethnographic approach, where the participants were followed for one year. Video and interviews were used as methods for data production. The theoretical framework is relational pedagogy, and Martin Buber’s concepts are used to analyze the relational dimensions in the classroom interactions around text. The results show how relational aspects of teacher-student meetings affect the possibilities for student participation in interactions around text. The study concludes that educators’ relational competence plays a crucial role for the students’ opportunities to participate in literacy practices. The findings have implications for practice that are applicable for teaching students with special educational needs as well as for teaching in the general classroom.

The study focuses on the issues of using foreign powers of attorney to dispose of immovable property located in in Ukraine. The unprecedented scale of migration of the Ukrainian population to European countries caused by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation continues to provoke legal issues that require research and answers. Among them is the issue of disposal of immovable property located in Ukraine on the basis of foreign powers of attorney.

The article addresses the following issues: the law of which country such a power of attorney must comply with; whether it must be created in the form of an authentic instrument; and whether certification of the authenticity of the signature on such a power of attorney is sufficient. As one of the possible examples, the article considers the situation of a power of attorney issued by a Polish notary for disposal of immovable property located in Ukraine. It is concluded that such a power of attorney must be authenticated, i.e., drawn up in the form of a ‘notarial act’ under Polish law, which is equivalent to a notarial authentication under Ukrainian law.

The article pays special attention to the concept of an ‘authentic instrument,’ which is analogous in its characteristics to a document authenticated by a notary under Ukrainian law. An authentic instrument is a document issued by a public authority; this authenticity should relate to the content of the instrument and not only, for example, the signature; the instrument has to be enforceable in itself in the state in which it originates.

The study draws attention to the fact that the law to which a foreign power of attorney must comply depends the interpretation of the provisions of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Private International Law.’ Depending on the strategy interpretation of these provisions, a power of attorney from a country where the concept of an authentic instrument is not used (Sweden, Ireland, Denmark, Cyprus, Finland) may be either recognised or not recognised in Ukraine as legally sufficient ground to dispose someone’s immovable property.

Attention is also paid to the legal consequences of using a foreign power of attorney, which, in accordance with the provisions of a bilateral international agreement between Ukraine and a third country, must comply with the law of Ukraine, but is not authenticated. Such a power of attorney is void pursuant to Article 219 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, but its voidance does not directly result in the invalidity or nullity of the agreement concluded on the basis of the void power of attorney.

Syftet med denna artikel är att problematisera konsekvenserna av policybeslut i dagens målstyrda skola för elever i behov av stöd, närmare bestämt elever med den neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningen autismspektrumtillstånd (AST). Elever med diagnos inom AST har enligt rapporter låg måluppfyllelse och hög frånvaro i den svenska grundskolan (Autism- och Aspergerförbundet, 2013; 2016). Samma rapporter visar att en majoritet av dessa elever därför saknar gymnasiebehörighet efter avslutad obligatorisk grundskoleutbildning. Skolpersonal måste ha den kompetens och flexibilitet som behövs för att möta denna elevgrupp annars kan det leda till att eleverna inte klarar de målen för utbildningen, vilket begränsar deras framtida yrkesval och möjligheter att delta i samhällslivet enligt Skolinspektionen (2012). Denna artikel diskuterar inte skolpersonals kompetens utan styrdokument och de villkor de skapar för skola i allmänhet och för elever i behov av stöd i synnerhet. Konsekvenser av den nya skollag som trädde i kraft 2011 uppmärksammas av forskare och handikapporganisationer. Det förefaller som om Skollagen (800:2010) inte alltid följs och att läroplanen Lgr11 kan skapa hinder i stället för förutsättningar för denna elevgrupp, samt att den nya mål- och resultatstyrning skolan regleras av på olika sätt har medfört ökade svårigheter för elever med AST att lyckas med sina studier. Trots goda intentioner ges skolor inte alltid de förutsättningar som krävs för anpassning efter elevers funktionsnedsättningar enligt Skolverket (2016). Denna artikel framhåller att de förändringar samhället och skolan genomgått under det senaste decenniet bör problematiseras ur en demokratisk synvinkel då de medfört uppenbara risker för utanförskap för en grupp individer i vårt samhälle.

Children interviewed by the police in cases of suspected child abuse may experience emotional distress. Simultaneously, parents face the dual challenge of being suspects in the investigation while also striving to support their child’s well-being. To offer children and their parents information and support in such cases, social workers in Sweden developed the model After the Child Forensic Interview (ACFI, sw. Efter barnförhöret). This study aims to explore the model from the perspective of family social workers to understand its relevance for supporting children and parents. Twenty family social workers from eleven Swedish municipalities were interviewed about their experiences of working with ACFI. The analysis revealed that working with ACFI (a) requires preconditions such as resources and cooperation, individual/professional knowledge and experience, and the parents’ receptivity, (b) demands adaptations such as changes and additions, and (c) entails side effects. Overall, family social workers describe the model as beneficial as it can improve client-worker relationships and facilitate further interventions. However, it is required that the municipalities have a plan for implementation and allocation of resources.

The aim of this compilation thesis is to investigate how a group of Swedish public sector organizations with key roles in the country’s total defence system discursively legitimate preparedness issues through strategic communication, at a time when the question of preparedness is receiving increasing priority in Swedish society. Using a critical discourse methodology in three empirical studies, the thesis shows how communication about preparedness plays an important role in how three types of organizations seek to gain legitimacy for themselves and for their operations, as well as for preparedness as a societal phenomenon.

The findings show that all three organizations, the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) [Försvarsmakten], municipalities, and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) [Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap], rely heavily on a normalizing message in their communication, as well as on the legitimation strategies of moralization and rationalization. The findings furthermore pinpoint how the role of the public sector organizations is largely backgrounded in this communication, and the individual citizen’s responsibility for preparedness is highlighted instead.

Due to the strategic importance of this kind of communication in these organizations’ legitimation process, the thesis concludes that it should be regarded here as a particular form of strategic communication, called “preparedness communication”. Through its focus on the discursive micro-levels, the thesis shows how such communication is performed in practice, and how it is an integral part of the public sector’s overarching strategic communication, in times of both stability and uncertainty.

The development of novel broad-spectrum antiviral agents is essential for addressing therapeutic gaps in managing common viral infections and the persistent threat of emerging and re-emerging pathogens. This thesis project investigated the antiviral properties of the antimicrobial peptides plantaricins. Study I demonstrated the broad-spectrum activityof PLNC8 ∝β, which disrupted viral envelopes and markedly reduced infectivity, with peptide’s efficacy depending on viral membrane composition. Study II further explored PLNC8 ∝β in a flavivirus infection model, revealing its ability to lower viral loads, attenuate infection-induced cytotoxicity, and modulate inflammation in alveolar epithelial cells. Study III assessed additional plantaricins, identifying truncated variants PLNC8 ∝1-15 and PLNC8 β1-20 as potent antiviral candidates. Synergistic activity was observed in certain complementary two-peptide combinations. Study IV evaluated PLNC8 ∝β’s safety in murine models, demonstrating good local tolerance and a favorable therapeutic window. Intranasal administration was well tolerated, while systemic toxicity occurred at high intravenous doses, highlighting the importance of optimized delivery strategies. Preliminary data on virus–bacteria co-infections indicated that PLNC8 ∝β exerted variable antiviral and antibacterial effects and reduced infection-induced cytotoxicity. Notably, keratinocytes exhibited resistance to the flavivirus Kunjin, suggesting intrinsic viral restriction and underscoring the need for further investigation using advanced models to clarify the role of PLNC8 ∝β in co-infections. Overall, this research supports plantaricins as promising broad-spectrum antiviral candidates. Future studies should focus on optimizing delivery and dosing regimens, exploring synergistic combinations, and applying advanced models to better understand their effects in the context of virus–bacteria co-infections.

The occupational health service (OHS) constitutes an independent resource with competence to identify and describe connections among work environments, organizations, productivity, and health, and can prevent and eliminate health risks in the workplace, for the best public health of the workforce. To do this, the OHS needs to be interdisciplinary. Therefore, the overall aim of this thesis was to investigate and explore interprofessional team collaboration (ITC) in the OHS in Sweden by measuring, describing, and comparing professionals’ per-ceptions and experiences of ITC and psychological and social factors in their work environment. Three quantitative studies and one qualitative study was conducted. A psychometric study was conducted to adapt and evaluate the Assessment of Interprofessional Team Collaboration Scale (AITCS) (Study I). Data collected with AITCS-SII(OH) and the General Questionnaire for Psychological and Social Factors at Work (QPS-Nordic) were used to compare and describe perceptions and experiences of professionals in the OHS (Studies II–III). Five focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted to explore the experiences of ITC (Study IV). The findings show that AITCS-SII(OH) is a valid and reliable tool in this context, there are differences and similarities within the professionals’ experience of ITC and their work environment. Specialist education in occupational health and safety and type of OHS may influence perceptions and experiences of ITC and the work environment. Evidence Based Practice needs to be implemented further in the OHS and the OHS need to develop and promote ITC.

The metaverse is considered by some to be the next big thing in the global economy. Despite technological progress and high expectations, scholars agree that a broader metaverse platform does not yet exist. Instead, it has been suggested that the metaverse exists mainly as an imaginary or a representation in various discursive contexts. However, studies that examine such representations are few, and the present study aims to – through the lens of social representation theory – critically explore how VR technology and the metaverse are discursively represented in Swedish news media. The analysis identifies three underlying themata: (a) The inevitability of technology, (b) The commodification of experience, and (c) The world of male pioneers. It is concluded that the news media’s representation of VR and the metaverse contributes greatly to maintaining the structural status quo. For traditional journalism to fulfill its democratic mission, a pervasive update of medialogic is needed.

Coronary artery bypass grafting surgery is the most common cardiothoracic procedure worldwide, and postoperative wound healing complications in the leg harvest site are common. The overall aim of this thesis was to explore varied perspectives of leg wound infection with a focus on routines and methods, the patients’ experiences, and risk factors.

In Study I, operating theatre nurses (n=62) and cardiac surgeons (n=56) from Swedish cardiothoracic centres (n=8) responded to a questionnaire regarding hygiene routines and surgical methods. The results indicate both similarities and differences between the centres. There is a lack of evidence regarding common routines and methods, and local routines might be one common factor. In Study II, interviews with patients (n=16) were performed to explore experiences of a serious wound healing complication. Pain, anxiety, and limitations in daily life affected the patients to varying degrees. Study III used local data from the Carath registry (n=2188) to explore risk factors for wound healing complications in the leg wound. Female sex, diabetes mellitus, higher body mass index, peripheral vascular disease, direct oral anticoagulants, and operation time ˃5 hours were detected as risk factors. In Study IV, follow-up data from patients (n=856) were investigated to identify risk factors for leg wound infection and other wound healing complications following coronary artery bypass surgery. Risk factors identified were female sex, vein harvesting technique, impaired left ventricle function, and the specific participating centres. In conclusion, female sex and the vein harvest technique may influence the risk of leg wound infection. Improved patient safety requires evidence-based routines, methods, and guidelines for healthcare professionals, as well as increased person-centred care.

The aim of this article is to critically evaluate the concept of caring masculinity/ies, a concept that has gained traction in critical studies on men and masculinities (CSMM) since the publication of Karla Elliott’s 2016 article. Utilizing a rapid literature review, this study analyses 54 peer-reviewed papers published in English-language journals since 2016. The paper begins with an overview of the early development of caring masculinities, tracing its theoretical roots and initial applications. It subsequently categorizes the dominant ways in which the concept has been applied, focusing on typologies, caring practices, and processes of change, as well as on criticism of the concept. The paper then discusses key critical junctions and limitations, particularly on the conflation of attitudes with practice. It finally calls for a more coherent focus on caring practices that emphasizes the importance of intersectionality, the initial feminist promise of the concept and greater attention to the structural barriers that may enable, shape or restrict men’s caring.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the perceptions and experiences of social workers and police officers in terms of risk management and inter- and intra-agency collaboration in cases of intimate partner violence (IPV) in rural and remote areas in Sweden.

Method: Adopting an exploratory qualitative research design, 13 semi-structured focus group interviews with 38 social workers and six police officers from six rural and remote regions were conducted. Data were analyzed using thematic analyses.

Results: In relation to our informants’ work with risk management responses, two themes were identified related to barriers and possibilities. In terms of collaboration, two themes were identified in the data: barriers to inter- and intra-agency collaboration, and facilitators of inter- and intra-agency collaboration. Overall, the results of this study correspond to previous research. However, novel findings related to possibilities with risk management responses and collaboration specific to a rural and remote context.

Conclusions: The results of this study are discussed in terms of policy and practical implications for social workers and police officers in general and in relation to the unique context of rural and remote areas. As such, there is an incongruence between current urban-centric policies of IPV prevention and the specific structural and cultural characteristics of sparsely populated areas.

Failures can occur in any interaction between humans and robots, and the extent of the failure depends on the domain of application and the context in which the failure occurs. Typically, interaction failures are attributed to errors on the robot’s side. This paper examines the concept of Intelligent Disobedience (ID) and how it can be leveraged for managing interaction failures caused by humans. Our work-in-progress focuses on the practical implementation of ID in robot teleoperation and highlights the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration for this project.

Human-robot interaction in any form and application domains are susceptible to failures. Failures are of varied definitions and types. The severity of the failure is high for teleoperated tasks. In this paper, we focus on the less explored type of failure called human induced interaction failure using the concept of Intelligent Dis-obedience (ID). ID was first used as a method for training guide dogs, where the dogs disobey the user’s commands that are dangerous to perform. Imparting this behaviour of disobedience to manage human induced interaction failures consists of numerous social, cultural and ethical aspects to consider. This paper discusses a novel framework based on ID to manage human induced interaction failures. Also, we discuss a nuanced approach involved in robot disobedience considering the different social and cultural aspects.

Bangladesh has experienced significant economic development in recent years, but the prevalence of extreme poverty among minority groups remains high. This study examines how exclusion, discrimination, and structural barriers contribute to multidimensional poverty among ethnic and religious minorities. It provides insights for policymakers and development partners in promoting inclusive development.

The authors contribute to a better understanding of the multiple dimensions of poverty by exploring the intersection of ethnicity, religion, discrimination, and poverty in Bangladesh, a critical but under-researched dimension of marginalization. The findings emphasize the need to move beyond reliance on economic growth and generic poverty reduction measures, advocating for tailored approaches that address structural exclusion and advance the rights of the most disadvantaged.

From a development perspective, the study holds particular significance. Bangladesh’s aspiration to eradicate poverty and achieve sustained economic growth hinges on addressing the needs of those furthest behind. Similarly, its democratic commitments are tested by the extent to which it upholds the basic rights and entitlements of marginalized populations. These goals align with Sweden’s priorities in international development, including promoting equity, safeguarding human rights, and fostering inclusive governance.

Employing qualitative methods that capture the voices and lived experiences of members of marginalized groups, this report provides insights for international development partners, including Sida, as well as decisionmakers in Bangladesh. By deepening understanding of extreme poverty and advocating for calibrated and coordinated responses, it supports efforts to advance accountability, amplify marginalized voices, and ensure that development truly benefits all.

The study outlines a set of policy implications of relevance for decision- and policymakers in Bangladesh as well as for multilateral and bilateral development partners, including the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The policy reflections largely focus on how to make marginalised minority groups in Bangladesh more ‘visible’, which is a prerequisite for addressing their extreme poverty and marginalisation.

Patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with a chromosome 5q deletion (del(5q)) have a poor prognosis and are often associated with a complex karyotype and TP53 mutations, factors worsening the prognosis. The hypomethylating agent azacitidine (AZA) is the first-line treatment. Lenalido-mide (LEN) is an effective therapy for lower-risk MDS with del(5q).

The aim of this thesis were clinical and genetic studies in patients with high-risk MDS and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with 20-30% marrow blasts with a karyotype including del(5q). In a prospective, multicenter, open-label, ran-domized phase II study, we studied if AZA + LEN was superior to AZA alone in high-risk MDS and AML with 20-30% marrow blasts with del(5q). Seventy-two patients were included between 2012 and 2017. The overall response rate (ORR) in the treated cohort was 39% for AZA and 44% for AZA + LEN (P=0.63). The addition of LEN to AZA did not improve outcome. In paper II we studied the influence of cytogenetics on treatment response in the study and if specific cytogenetic findings could predict outcome. Patients with del(5q) and complex karyotype or an unbalanced translocation of 5q had a shorter median overall survival (OS) (P=0.004). The aim in paper III was to op-timize diagnostic procedures and follow-up assessment with cytomorphology, bone marrow trephine biopsy and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in patients with higher-risk MDS and AML with 20-30% blasts with a karyotype including del(5q). In 18 patients (25%) a higher bone marrow blast percentage was de-tected by IHC compared to cytomorphology, shifting the diagnosis to either a higher-risk MDS subgroup or AML and is useful for correct subclassification in del(5q) high-risk myeloid disease and for response assessment.

In conclusion, the findings in this thesis show that high-risk MDS with del(5q) is a myeloid disorder with a dismal prognosis. There seems to be a window of molecular response to AZA after 3 months of treatment. Future studies should focus on the therapeutic window as a possibility for allogeneic stem cell trans-plantation.