To Örebro University

This paper derives the density function of the product of a Wishart matrix and a normal vector that are independently distributed. Unlike existing results, we allow the covariance matrix of the Wishart distribution and that of the normal vector to differ, and we do not assume them to be proportional. In this general setting, the density is shown to admit a two-dimensional integral representation. We further obtain the density of linear combinations of the product. For a single linear combination, it is again expressed as a two-dimensional integral whose integrand involves the modified Bessel function of the second kind, and the special case of identity covariance matrices is treated explicitly. All resulting expressions are straightforward to evaluate numerically, and the product defines a new family of matrix-variate mixtures of multivariate normal distributions.

Canonical forms provide a fundamental framework for studying matrices and matrix pencils through invariants under various equivalence transformations. These forms reveal structural information about the underlying objects, such as eigenvalues, their multiplicities, and minimal indices. This information plays an important role in differential-algebraic equations, control theory, generalized eigenvalue problems, and related areas. However, in practical applications, canonical invariants are often sensitive to perturbations arising from measurement errors and numerical computations. Closely related to perturbation theory is the notion of the distance to singularity. This distance quantifies how far a matrix pencil is from becoming singular. This thesis investigates canonical forms for pairs of matrices associated with linear time-invariant dissipative Hamiltonian systems under suitable equivalence transformations. Furthermore, it studies minimal changes in the eigenstructure of skew-symmetric matrix pencils under small perturbations by developing theories related to orbits and bundles of skew-symmetric matrix pencils under congruence. Finally, it presents an algorithm for computing a nearby singular matrix pencil from a given regular matrix pencil, where the distance between the two is measured in the Frobenius norm. The method builds on recent advances in the theory of matrix pencil factorizations. The result is then extended to matrix polynomials.

Introduction: Competitive freediving involves repeated voluntary breath-holding, during which hypoxic events such as loss of motor control (LMC) or blackout (BO) may occur. Although nutrition may influence metabolic responses tohypoxia, evidence in competitive freedivers remains limited. This study aimedto investigate the relationship between dietary habits and self-reported hypoxicevents in Spanish competitive freedivers.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 71 competitive freedivers(19 women: 39.4 ± 9.3 years; 52 men: 41.9 ± 8.6 years). Participants completeda questionnaire on training characteristics and hypoxic events. Events were classified as LMC or BO, and participants were categorized according to the mostsevere event experienced. Dietary habits were assessed using a validated foodfrequency questionnaire (PREDIMED). Associations were examined using chisquare or Fisher’s exact tests, and significant variables were included in a binomiallogistic regression adjusted for age, sex, and years of practice.

Results: Overall, participants showed moderate consumption across dietarygroups, with higher intake of fruits, vegetables, and protein-rich foods; and lowintake of ultra-processed foods and alcohol. Male divers consumed moderateamounts of protein-rich foods, whereas female counterparts reported lowerintake [χ2(2) = 8.53, p = 0.014; Fisher’s exact test, p = 0.010]. Overall, 21 freedivers(29.6%) reported at least one hypoxic event. The occurrence of hypoxic eventswere associated with years of practice (p = 0.003) and consumption of stimulant beverages (p = 0.013). Beginners experienced fewer events than expected,whereas divers with >4 to 10 years of practice were overrepresented. In theadjusted model, years of practice remained significantly associated with hypoxicevents [OR = 3.06, 95% CI (1.43, 6.53), p = 0.004]. Moderate stimulant beverageconsumption emerged as a potential associated factor [OR = 12.54, 95% CI (1.27,123.9), p = 0.031].

Conclusion: Hypoxic events in competitive freedivers were primarily associatedwith years of practice, suggesting that cumulative exposure may be a relevant riskfactor. Overall dietary habits showed no clear relationship with hypoxic events,although stimulant beverage consumption may warrant further investigation

In this inaugural lecture, I explore the relationship between educational policy governance and the space for professional discretion in the Swedish education system. As a point of departure, the lecture is situated in relation to earlier professorial inaugural lectures in Sweden, a tradition dating back to 1910. Drawing on completed and ongoing research, I demonstrate how changing societal expectations and policy frameworks have reshaped the conditions for teachers’ professional work over time. These dynamics are illustrated through examples such as the introduction and evolving meaning of the concept of quality, local initiatives to counteract school segregation, the increasing juridification of education, and finally three governance logics that conceptualize changes in how educational governance frame professional discretion. The lecture concludes with forward-looking reflections, emphasizing the importance of empirically grounded theorizing and further theoretical development that reconnects the changing educational landscape with fundamental questions about education and its relationship to society.

This article examines how the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), incorporated into Swedish law in 2020, is recontextualised in five socioeconomically and ethnically diverse school settings. Drawing on Bernstein's concepts of recontextualization, classification and voice, the study analyses interviews with teachers, principals and superintendents to explore how the CRC shapes pedagogical relations in terms of boundaries and power relations between children, school staff and parents. The results indicate that the CRC's weak classification enables markedly different local interpretations. These, in turn, produce distinct configurations of voice: from individualised child- and parent-driven claims in affluent majority contexts to juridical boundary-setting or collective empowerment approaches in disadvantaged ethnic minority settings. Across cases, the socioeconomic and ethnic contexts strongly condition how boundaries are drawn and whose voice is strengthened or constrained - illustrating the importance of understanding the CRC as a context-sensitive educational object.

The role of pets in supporting children's mental health and well-being has attracted growing attention. Although pets are oftendescribed as emotionally significant companions—offering comfort, security and stability—the effects of pet ownership arenot universally positive or consistent. This scoping review maps existing research on the significance of pets for children'swell-being, particularly those experiencing mental health challenges. Drawing on 20 studies—quantitative, qualitative andmixed-methods—published across diverse cultural contexts, the review identifies three central themes: emotional support andfriendship; responsibility, routine and family; and psychosocial well-being. Findings suggest that the emotional quality of thechild-pet relationship, rather than pet ownership alone, is key to potential benefits such as reduced stress and enhanced resil-ience. The review underscores the importance of context-sensitive understandings of well-being. Pets may be valuable allies inchildren's mental health, but their role should be understood as part of broader social contexts. Contextual factors including age,gender, species of pet and socio-economic environment may influence the outcomes. However, strong reliance on pets can alsoreflect or reinforce social isolation. Limitations include a small evidence base focused largely on high-income countries and alack of studies centring children's own perspectives. Further research is needed to explore how children across varied settingsexperience relationships with pets, and how these connections might inform support strategies in social work and mental healthcare

This article examines how fiction produced by and for transnational, regional and public service platforms respectively open up possibilities for imaginaries of solidarity. Using feminist and narrative theory, we explore how information guides sympathy for the characters, and what the characters and the plot reveal about the embedded gaze. The results highlight the significance of racial and geographic segregation across all three series. Thin Blue Line offers a structural critique of racism while promoting inclusion and solidarity based on middle-class tolerance. In contrast, the more commercially oriented Top Dog and Snabba Cash present a war of all against all to rule society, building on suspense to create sympathy for the characters. These two series imply a “peeping” middle-class gaze into the dangerous world of criminality, thus activating racialized boundaries for who is included in the community of solidarity. Based on the reading of the three series, the article finds that local contexts are important for opening imaginaries of solidarity.

I artikeln studerar vi om arbetslöshet är kopplat till en ökad sannolikhet att flytta till en ny arbetsmarknad och om sambandet skiljer sig mellan olika hushållskonstellationer. Vårt urval inkluderar individer mellan 20–64 år som tidigare varit etablerade på arbetsmarknaden. Vi jämför sannolikheten att flytta mellan nyblivna arbetslösa och fortsatt förvärvsarbetande individer. För individe rutan hemmavarande barn är arbetslöshet associerat med en högre sannolikhet att flytta. Men för individer med hemmavarande barn finns ingen sådan association, vilket tolkas som att barnens förankring på hemorten väger tyngre än möjligheten att flytta till ett jobb.

While there is an increasing number of B2B studies about sustainability, few centre on the issue of biodiversity loss and the business network processes needed to address this. In this paper, we focus on the Swedish forestry sector to investigate the role of alternative accounts made by actors not typically considered as part of the business network (e.g. NGOs, individual activists, ecotourism organisations or investigative journalists), in governing business relationships towards managing biodiversity loss. Through a combination of the sustainability accounting literature and the Industrial Network Approach (INA), we provide a new lens for understanding how network change is pre-mobilised in issue-based nets. Specifically, we introduce the concept of network nudging. We further draw on governmentality to show how the alternative accounts use ethical and emotive discourses to challenge dominant business logics. The paper emphasises the importance of inclusive, dialogical engagement with marginalised voices to strengthen relational governance. We conclude by arguing how current understandings of how sustainability is managed within issue-based nets is enhanced by including the pre-mobilising efforts of alternative accounts.

Maladaptive anger inhibition can be defined as the excessive suppression of angry expressions while remaining intensely angry from within. A growing body of research suggests that maladaptive anger inhibition is associated with various negative outcomes including physical health risks and psychopathology. This thesis aimed to advance our understanding of maladaptive anger inhibition in adults and develop and evaluate novel treatments for this problem. To this end, four studies were conducted.

Study I explored for the presence of anger subgroups in an anger-treatment-seeking sample and identified four groups. Of primary relevance was an “anger-in” profile characterized by low outward anger expression combined with elevated internal anger, consistent with maladaptive anger inhibition. Study II used network analysis to examine associations among anger components and regulation strategies in the same sample, identifying anger rumination as a central process potentially involved in maintaining maladaptive anger inhibition. Study III experimentally investigated the effects of state anger suppression in combination with subsequent regulation strategies, showing that suppression followed by rumination increased anger, whereas suppression followed by reappraisal or continued suppression was associated with reduced anger and improved physiological regulation. Study IV evaluated an emotion regulation-focused treatment for maladaptive anger inhibition, demonstrating feasibility, acceptability, and promising preliminary effects.

Together, findings suggest that maladaptive anger inhibition represents a clinically relevant problem that may be responsive to targeted emotion regulation-focused treatment.

From assessment to intervention: A study on the realisation of special support in compulsory school. Using the theory of practice architectures (Kemmis 2022), this study explores the conditions for realising special support for students in eight compulsory schools in two municipalities in central Sweden. The study is based on a method of collegial learning dialogues and open-ended survey questions, and includes a total of 47 participants from the selected schools. In the study, two areas of instability in the practice landscape could be identified. One instability concerns different ways of understanding and explaining school difficulties in terms of compensatory and relational perspectives. The other concerns the imprint on the practice architecture entailed by a governance ideology rooted in New Public Management. Arrangements in three areas were identified as particularly important for the realisation of special support, namely organisation and structure, collaboration, and consensus. The findings indicate that the realisation of special support, like other (special education) policies, involves extensive and multifaceted processes of change within school practices.

The introductory chapter to the edited volume Arguing with Multiple Semiotic Modes traces the multimodal expansion of the field of argumentation studies from initial skepticism to growing recognition. The authors advocate for integrating multimodal insights into argumentation theory (and vice versa), while addressing the challenges that this synergy raises. They also call for closer dialogue between argumentation studies and rhetoric studies of visual and multimodal communication, acknowledging the vital role of context and genre. After an overview of the contents of the various chapters structured in three parts, the authors conclude by mapping out future directions for research in multimodal argumentation.

Rapporten sammanfattar erfarenheter och insikter om den ideella delningsekonomins förutsättningar utifrån en pilotstudie av fem icke-vinstdrivande delningsinitiativ i Örebro. Rapporten syftar till att bidra till en diskussion kring möjligheterna att etablera, upprätthålla och skala upp ideell delning i Örebro liksom i andra liknande lokala miljöer. Studien belyser utmaningarna med att säkerställa den materiella infrastruktur och de kompetenser som behövs för att driva ideell delning. Studien belyser vidare den centrala roll som samhällsrelationer spelar för att möjliggöra delningspraktiker, inklusive betydelsen av sociala mötesplatser samt initiativens beroende av samarbete med kommun, givare och andra aktörer. Sammantaget visar resultaten att det finns en underutnyttjad potential i lokalsamhället för att stärka och växla upp delningsmodeller.

Introduction: A common issue in internet interventions for mental health conditions is that many patients do not respond to treatment. This has led to a line of research that focuses on finding predictive and moderating factors of treatment outcomes with the goal to improve our understanding of these heterogeneous treatment effects. However, this literature often finds inconsistent results between studies making the findings difficult to implement in clinical practice. Drawing on methods from the from the causal inference literature could improve consistency and impact.

Methods and results: Using causal directed acyclic graphs (DAGs), we show that results from common statistical analyses used in this line of research are sensitive to the underlying causal structure of the data, under some realistic conditions. We use collider bias as an illustrative example. Results from simulation will be presented that show how inconsistent results can appear depending on how covariates are chosen.

Conclusions: Research on predictors and moderators of outcomes in internet interventions would benefit from applying methods from causal inference. Recommendations for future research are to clarify the intended aim of the analyses, precisely define what is to be estimated (the estimand), and justify the chosen statistical analyses using causal reasoning. 

This is a study of dialect use, place-making, and metalinguistic practices in a vocational upper secondary school in the province of Värmland, located in the west-central part of Sweden. The study draws on linguistic-ethnographic fieldwork in four classes at three vocational programs: the Health and Social Care Program, the Electrical and Energy Program, and the Industrial Technology Program. The fieldwork spanned four semesters, including participant observation, audio recordings of eight focus students, and four focus group discussions. Drawing on sociolinguistic and social-semiotic perspectives, this study explores whether and how upper secondary students, aged 16–19, use dialect across different locations in the school, and how these locations are linguistically, socially, and semiotically constituted as meaningful places. The study also examines how students perceive and talk about language and place.

The study shows that students use dialect extensively across all recorded locations, and draw on a broad range of features, including both widely shared and traditionally more local variants. A thematic content analysis of discussions in four focus groups shows that the participating students display a broad range of metalinguistic perceptions and that they use language to signal belonging, create distinctions, and position themselves and others. The study also shows how students constitute different parts of the school as socially meaningful places, where various parts of the school are assigned distinct meanings and associated with particular activities, actors, histories, and qualities. Such meaningful places are then brought into action as practiced places through the interplay of spatial organization, social practice, and language use. The dissertation contributes to research on dialect use and place-making among adolescents in vocational and institutional settings, and to the understanding of how language use and spatial meaning-making are intertwined in everyday social practice.

This paper explores how Jewish youth in Sweden interpret antisemitic discourse encountered in their everyday lives. Drawing on traditions of social semiotics, discourse ethnography, and child and youth studies, the study design enables an emic perspective and highlights how participants draw on their knowledge of multimodal design and production when making sense of the semiotic manifestations they encounter. The data consist of the participating youths’ own documentation of the semiotic manifestations they encounter, as well as focus group discussions in which this documentation is discussed by the youth. The paper presents a novel discourse-design approach to antisemitism that conceptualizes antisemitic manifestations as integrated wholes in which meaning and form, content, and expression are fused. Results show that the participating youth interpret the material properties of antisemitic discourse and their effects with respect to semiotic investment, as well as the affordances of different production and distribution media. By centering interpretation and treating antisemitism as a lived and contextualized semiotic phenomenon, the paper demonstrates the importance of exploring antisemitic and racist discourse from the perspective of the targeted minority.

Cross-sectoral governance has become a prominent feature of contemporary public sector reform. Across policy areas such as sustainability, integration, unemployment, and crime prevention, public organizations are increasingly expected to assemble governmental and non-governmental actors into collective responses to societal challenges. In these arrangements, dispersed actors with fragmented mandates, uneven capacities, and no single center of authority are nonetheless expected to act collectively, assume responsibility, and respond to an expanding range of societal problems.

Drawing on world society theory and an interpretive synthesis of four studies of Swedish cross-sectoral governance networks, this thesis develops the concept of cross-sectoral actorhood. Cross-sectoral actorhood denotes the institutional process through which cross-sectoral governance arrangements come to be attributed and to sustain the qualities of a purposeful, capable, and morally responsible actor. Cross-sectoral actorhood is not an inherent property of such governance arrangements, but an ongoing institutional accomplishment, expressed and sustained through ambiguous institutional scripts, ceremonial infrastructures, and distributed enactments that render them recognizable as legitimate actors within a rationalized cultural order.

The central contribution of the thesis is to reframe cross-sectoral governance not as a neutral mode of problem-solving, but as a cultural stage: a site in which what counts as a pressing societal challenge and who counts as a responsible actor are continuously shaped. This theoretical move opens a critical space for examining not only how cross-sectoral actorhood is institutionally accomplished, but also its normative and political consequences. It shows how responsibility can be made visible and attributable while remaining distributed and unsettled, and foregrounds the political ordering processes through which particular configurations of problems and actors become actionable and legitimate, selectively privileging certain interpretations against a background of apparent consensus.

This study uses multimodal critical discourse analysis to explore the growing market of mental health applications (MHapps), particularly those using sound and music to promote wellbeing. Focusing on NuCalm, Endel and BrainTap, it examines the design and functionalities of their interfaces, revealing the underlying assumptions, values and ideologies embedded in their structures. It finds that these apps are structured around a script of self-management and self-improvement, deeply embedded in an entrepreneurial discourse of self-optimisation. What initially appears as a focus on wellbeing, in fact, subtly pushes users to maximise productivity and competitiveness. The study also reveals paradoxes in presenting both technology and users as the problem and solution to mental health challenges. Overall, it provides new insights into how MHapps shape contemporary understandings of wellbeing, reinforcing neoliberal ideologies of self-care as individual responsibility and raising broader questions about whether these technologies help users or simply redefine personal struggles as failures.

One of the core principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is that children have the right to freely express their views on all matters affecting them. Thus, the paediatric healthcare sector has a responsibility to promote children’s participation at both the individual and collective level. An important part of high-quality paediatric care is giving children the opportunity to share views on their experiences.

This thesis explores how children’s right to share their views on their healthcare experiences can be facilitated and integrated into Swedish paediatric care. It contains four studies focusing on (I) describing how Swedish paediatric departments encourage children’s voices regarding their healthcare experiences and how children’s perspectives are taken into account in quality-improvement work; (II) translating, adapting and validating the six versions of the Children and Young People –Patient-reported Experience Measure (CYP-PREM) for use in a Swedish healthcare context; (III) piloting the Swedish versions of the CYP-PREM (Swe-CYP-PREM) questionnaire in paediatric care; and(IV) exploring first-line managers’ and quality-improvement workers’ perspectives of using PREMs in paediatric units. The findings indicate that integrating children’s right to express their views regarding their healthcare experiences into clinical practice requires a systematic, flexible and context-sensitive approach grounded in organisational commitment to listening to children’s voices. Swe-CYP-PREM appears to be a valuable tool for facilitating this process, although challenges remain in achieving sustainable and systematic integration of children’s perspectives into paediatric care.

The new Social Services Act increases the demand for preventive measures, which are expected to takeplace in collaboration with other actors. One actor that has received attention in the media is publiclibraries, where, among other things, the introduction of library social workers is a concrete example ofefforts to address social vulnerability. Since their establishment, public libraries have had the task ofserving as universally preventive spaces, aiming to promote social inclusion by providing equal accessto literature, information, and culture. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the role of librariesin offering targeted interventions for socially vulnerable groups. This article aims to map how publiclibraries work to address social vulnerability. The empirical analysis is guided by the following researchquestions: At what level and for which target groups are measures implemented? What characterises thelibraries that carry out such measures? With which actors do libraries collaborate in connection withtargeted interventions? The project is based on a survey answered by 566 public libraries in 259 Swedishmunicipalities. The results show that almost 30 percent of libraries carry out targeted measures to add-ress social vulnerability, and that the majority of these initiatives are conducted in collaboration withother actors. A distinctive feature of the libraries that implement such targeted efforts is a higher pre-valence of visitors with extensive and complex problems. These findings suggest that public librariescould be further developed as venues for preventive social work. However, such a development mayrisk undermining the general trust and legitimacy that libraries currently enjoy. Therefore, any such de-velopment must take place within the library profession itself, where the results of this and similar stu-dies can serve as a foundation for further knowledge and discussion

By reviewing how social science researchers have utilised the triad of sport, gender, and violence, this article identifies variations, changes, and continuities in how these elements have been understood since the 1980s. Based on searches in two databases, the ten most-cited articles from each decade were analysed. The review shows that critical perspectives on men and masculinity were foregrounded in the 1980s, while research connecting sports participation and violence has expanded since the late 1990s. The findings reveal a spectrum of approaches that either challenge or reproduce static understandings of gender and violence. The review demonstrates that the triad, developed as a structural feminist critique and later expanded into research on causal and intervention-oriented models, widens the field’s analytical and political horizons and raises questions about where responsibility for violence in and around sport lies. The concluding discussion highlights the importance of normative guidance where violence occupies a grey area.

There are large variations in how individual patients respond to allergen immunotherapy (AIT) against grass and/or birch allergy. There are currently no reliable biomarkers to predict which patients are likely to benefit from the treatment. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential of cytokine and soluble immunologic checkpoint molecule (ICM) levels as biomarkers for AIT success. Blood samples collected before starting AIT were analyzed for concentration of 92 different cytokines and 14 different ICMs. Traditional univariable statistical analysis was performed to evaluate differences between responders and non-responders. Furthermore, both unsupervised and supervised machine learning algorithms were used for multivariable analysis of differences between the responders and non-responders and to try to identify clusters within the subjects which could potentially be linked to endotypes of allergic rhinitis. Neither univariable nor multivariable analysis showed any significant correlations between AIT outcome and pre-treatment levels of cytokines or soluble ICM. In the cluster analysis, 4 clustering algorithms consistently grouped 48 of the 60 subjects into 3 distinct clusters. However, these clusters did not correlate with clinical characteristics, indicating that the clusters are unlikely to represent actual biological endotypes. The findings of this study did not provide evidence supporting the use of pre-treatment levels of cytokines and ICM as biomarkers for AIT outcome.

In this theoretical paper, we argue that ESE is caught between the existential dimension of its content and the instrumentalisation of the education system in which it operates. We argue that the tension between the existential dimension and instrumentalism manifests in five aspects of ESE, which direct ESE in profoundly different directions. We build our understanding of the existential dimension in ESE on Karl Jaspers’ (1883–1969) existential philosophy and prior research on the existential dimension in ESE. Drawing on a theoretical foundation from existential philosophy, we outline what it might mean when ESE teaching content becomes the student’s own existential question. Our view of instrumentalism in ESE is informed by recent work within educational philosophy on instrumentalism in education. The five aspects of ESE where the tension between the existential dimension and instrumentalism manifests are: (i) the aim of education, (ii) the role of knowledge, (iii) the role of students’ prior experiences, (iv) the role of emotions and (v) the role of time. In our closing discussion, we address the possibilities of making room for the existential dimension of ESE teaching content, given the dominant, and possibly hegemonic, position of instrumentalism in education today.

Over 190,000, or 8 %, of under eighteens in Sweden were born in another country. Many come from the Middle East and Africa and there is a considerable diversity of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. As most young immigrants are unlikely to return to their homelands there are compelling reasons to better understand the conditions pertinent to these youths’ wellbeing and acculturation. This mixed methods dissertation therefore aimed to develop knowledge about how wellbeing and acculturation among newly arrived Middle Eastern and African immigrant youth in Sweden can be understood and promoted. The dissertation comprises three studies investigating immigrant youth resilience, wellbeing, and acculturation from global, national, individual, and applied perspectives. Study I is a systematic review and meta-analysis of psychosocial promotion and prevention interventions targeting psychological health, wellbeing, or resilience among forced migrant children and youth throughout the world. Study II is a qualitative thematic analysis examining acculturation goals and indications of psychological resilience in response to the contextual risk and resources described by newly arrived Middle Eastern and African youth when recalling their early experiences in Sweden. Study III is a comparative Delphi study examining newly arrived youths’ and youth workers’ perspectives on activities to promote acculturation and wellbeing in youths’ social- and cultural integration process. Cumulatively, these studies contribute to the conceptual understanding of youth acculturation as a resource intensive process that requires reciprocity from dominant society throughout multiple socioecological systems if youth are to succeed in reaching their acculturation goals, maintain resilience, and experience long-term wellbeing.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with significant morbidity and healthcare burden. While some patients remain asymptomatic, others experience debilitating symptoms. Traditional factors such as heart rate and rhythm irregularity do not fully explain this variability, suggesting that additional mechanisms, including inflammation, contribute to symptom severity.

Purpose: We aimed to investigate inflammation-associated protein profiles in patients with symptomatic AF before and after ablation compared to controls.

Methods: This case-control study included 100 patients aged 18–75 years with symptomatic paroxysmal or persistent AF scheduled for a first catheter ablation (pulmonary vein isolation) and 100 age- and sex-matched controls without AF. Symptom burden was assessed using the AF6 questionnaire (score range 0-60) and the modified European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) symptom scale. Peripheral blood samples were collected from AF patients both before and the day after ablation, and once from controls. Proteomic profiling was performed using the Olink Target 96 Inflammation panel. In addition, six AF-related proteins—Cystatin C, N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), high-sensitivity (hs) C-reactive protein (CRP), cancer antigen 125 (CA-125), hs troponin, and S100-calcium binding protein B (S100B)—were analysed separately. Principal component analysis and linear regression models (adjusted for baseline value, age, sex, rhythm at admission, baseline creatinine, and baseline NT-proBNP) were used to examine biomarker profiles, with significance defined as p<0.05 after Bonferroni correction.

Results: The median AF6 sum score was 23 (IQR: 14-32), and most patients were classified as EHRA III, indicating severe symptoms before ablation. Fifty-two inflammatory biomarkers, including interleukin-6, fibroblast growth factor-21, and interleukin-10 were significantly increased after compared to before ablation. Principal component analysis showed partial separation between AF patients (both pre- and post-ablation) and controls, indicating distinct inflammatory profiles, with some overlap between pre- and post-ablation (Figure 1). Among the six targeted proteins, all were elevated except S100B. In the case-control comparison, 12 biomarkers were significantly increased in AF patients, and NT-proBNP and Cystatin C were elevated in the separate analysis. Twenty-three patients experienced at least one ECG-verified AF recurrence between the end of the three-month blanking period and the six-month follow-up.

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that symptomatic AF is associated with a distinct inflammatory biomarker signature that is further modified by catheter ablation. These results highlight an acute inflammatory response and potential immune modulation post-ablation, underscoring the potential of inflammatory biomarkers in refining personalised management strategies for patients with symptomatic AF.

Objective: This Swedish nationwide cohort study used large-scale data to investigate the associations between bipolar disorder and somatic disorders and whether these risks differ by subtype, sex, or exposure to compulsory care.

Methods: 61,071 individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder in inpatient (from 1973) or outpatient care (from 2001) care were compared with the general population without bipolar disorder. The cohort included individuals born in 1932 or later, with follow-up from 1973 to 2020. Cox regression models estimated associations with a range of somatic conditions, including cardiovascular, endocrine, neurological, and infectious diseases. Subtype-specific analyses were conducted in individuals with type 1 (n = 8,352) or type 2 (n = 9,674), and in those with a history of compulsory care (n = 6,748).

Results: Bipolar disorder was associated with significantly increased risks for most examined somatic conditions. The highest hazard ratios (HRs) were observed for sleep disorders (HR 3.79; 95% CI, 3.71–3.87) and dementias (HR 4.32; 95% CI, 3.82–4.79). Type 2 diabetes risk was elevated, while no association was found for type 1 diabetes. Most risks were comparable across bipolar subtypes, though certain conditions—such as migraine and fibromyalgia—were more strongly associated with type 2. Individuals with a history of compulsory psychiatric care showed elevated risks for several conditions.

Conclusions: Regardless of sex or subtype, bipolar disorder is associated with substantially higher lifetime risks of a broad range of somatic conditions. Integrated psychiatric and somatic health care may help reduce morbidity and improve outcomes.

Global environmental assessments (GEAs) provide authoritative expert knowledge on environmental issues for an international audience. Demand for GEAs is growing rapidly: their number is increasing, and their thematic scope continually expands. At the same time, the environmental, social, and political context in which GEAs operate has changed dramatically over their 50-year history. Anthropogenic environmental problems have worsened significantly, while calls for just and equitable transformations are intensifying. In response, GEAs have begun to shift from primarily diagnosing problems to offering solutions and influencing policy, and more recently, towards supporting sustainability transformations. Assessment bodies increasingly recognize that meeting these novel ambitions requires deeper engagement from social sciences and humanities (SSH). However, efforts to include these disciplines have encountered considerable challenges. In this paper, we argue that for GEAs to effectively engage SSH, they must move beyond the prevailing paradigm of environmental assessment based on objectivity, singularity, and linearity, and instead experiment with the plurality and reflexivity of a broader range of knowledges. Such an approach is essential for advancing transformative societal changes. Achieving this requires fundamental reforms to GEA structures and processes. We propose five critical steps for making GEAs more responsive to emerging challenges and more reflexive about their responsibilities within global governance regimes.

This study examines how ideas about nature and gender are affectively communicated in Nordic radical nationalism. It focuses on the strategic role of ‘positive’ affect in ecofascist visual discourse and how gendered representations structure and channel these affective processes. Three research questions guide the study: How does visual communication construct masculinity and femininity through positive affect? What work does gendered positive affect perform as a communication strategy? And how does positive affect contribute to normalizing far-right ecologism through gendered visual communication?

The thesis employs multimodal critical discourse analysis across three sub-studies, drawing on images, captions and texts collected from Telegram and Nordic radical nationalist digital archives between 2020 and 2025. A fourth sub-study consists of a systematic literature review. The first article analyses cuteness in ecofascist propaganda, finding that it disarms viewers by framing extremism as emotionally inviting, recruiting adherents through soft emotional appeals rather than overt aggression. The second identifies the ‘contemplative man’ trope, which constructs far-right masculinity as rooted in serenity and connection to the land, framing racial exclusion as a moral duty. The third examines the ‘wheat girl’ figure, showing how aestheticized femininity makes radical nationalism appear natural and desirable, framing ethnic exclusion as a biological necessity tied to fertility and tradition. The fourth article reviews existing scholarship in order to contextualize these visual tactics within broader patterns of far-right ecologism. It confirms that gender serves as a fundamental mechanism for mobilization and ideological justification.

Together, the studies demonstrate that positive affect functions simultaneously as a communication strategy and a tool for subjectification. Gendered imagery bypasses rational critique by framing exclusionary politics as beautiful, organic and emotionally fulfilling. This process recruits by making ideology emotionally appealing, subjectifies by offering gendered templates for identification and normalizes violence by embedding it within familiar frameworks of care and protection. Contemporary far-right discourse has updated fascist gender ideology for modern audiences, producing an aestheticized, softer version that is more difficult to identify as political. It is therefore essential that counter-radicalization strategies and digital literacy programmes that seek to look beyond explicit hate speech understand these mechanisms in order to engage critically with the aesthetics and emotional templates through which extremist ideologies travel and take root.

This paper explores how regional public transport authorities in Sweden interpret and apply the “whole-journey approach” in planning for sustainable mobility. The concept refers to the idea that public transport must be planned as a seamless chain of movements, integrating the entire journey, from departure to arrival, across different modes and environments. Drawing on planning documents and interviews from five non-metropolitan counties, the study shows that, while the whole-journey approach is a shared ambition, its implementation varies in both logic and practice. Two planning logics emerge: one focused on individual users and the seamlessness of their trips, and another oriented around collective service provision through high-capacity transit corridors.

Building on existing international models, the paper develops a spatial framework identifying four overlapping spaces throughout the journey: information, departure, public transport, and arrival. The analysis finds that public transport authorities have strong control over the information and public transport spaces, concentrating efforts on digital services and integration across operators. However, their influence is limited in the departure and arrival spaces, which depend on co-planning with municipalities and national authorities. This reveals a gap between ambition and institutional capacity.

The paper concludes that the whole-journey approach is best understood as a flexible planning ideal rather than a fixed method. While it offers a promising framework for linking public transport to land-use planning, its effectiveness depends on stronger coordination across planning levels and deeper engagement with the everyday mobility needs of individuals.

I denna rapport presenteras resultat ur en utvärdering av projektet IPS-integrering i vårdteam. Projektet och utvärderingen pågick under perioden 2023-03-01 - 2026-02-28 och finansierades av Europeiska Socialfonden. Utvärderingen är baserad på intervjuer med yrkesverksamma och deltagare i projektet. Syftet med rapporten är att belysa dels möjligheter och hinder som uppstår i implementeringen av IPS, dels deltagares erfarenheter av att vara med i IPS, samt med utgångspunkt i dessa resultat föreslå förbättringsförslag och viktiga områden att ta hänsyn till vid implementering av IPS i Sverige.

Utvärderingens huvudsakliga slutsatser är:

• Det går att implementera IPS inom psykiatriska team i Sverige där arbetsspecialisterna inte är anställda av psykiatrin men dettar tid och kräver kontinuitet.

• Externa faktorer är betydande för möjligheten att implementera IPS för psykosvårdens målgrupp. De inkluderar inte minst ersättningssystemens påverkan samt psykiatrins organisering. Samtidigt är det viktigt att följa förändringar i ersättningssystem då det kan uppstå glapp mellan å ena sidan praktikers och patienters farhågor, exempelvis för indragen ersättning och å andra sidan myndigheters faktiska tillämpning.

• Den långsiktiga implementeringen av IPS inom Region Örebro län är oviss. Det är viktigt att klargöra ansvarsfrågan i relation till frågan huruvida IPS är en rehabiliterande vårdinsats eller en arbetsmarknadsinsats. Fokuset på arbete, och då inte minst det arbetsgivarorienterade arbetssättet, innebär att IPS utmanar synen på hälso- och sjukvårdens arbete.

• De deltagare som intervjuats är i huvudsak nöjda med IPS-insatsen. Arbetet koordineras mellan psykosvården och arbetsspecialister utan större behov av mer deltagarintensiv samverkan. Detta har i huvudsak uppfattas som positivt av deltagare. Dock är en risk att deltagares delaktighet förbises om det uppstår ett glapp mellan den enskildes upplevelse av insatsen och arbetsspecialistens uppfattning om deltagarens deltagande.

• På grund av nedsatt arbetsförmåga har IPS-insatsen i praktiken kommit att erbjuda sysselsättning, med liten eller ingen chans för anställning, åt en stor andel deltagare. Å ena sidan innebär det en avvikelse mot IPS-metoden. Å andra sidan uttrycker de intervjuade deltagarna att sysselsättningen varit stärkande och ett viktigt komplement till socialpsykiatrins dagverksamhet.

In the early 2020s, the Swedish child welfare services (CWS) were accused in social media of kidnapping and placing migrant children in foster or family care, without their families’ knowledge or permission. This debate became referred to as a large-scale disinformation campaign, which can be understood as a discursive struggle between different versions of truth. This study explores social media content about the Swedish CWS in Arabic between 2021 and 2023. The material consisted of Facebook and YouTube posts and comments in Arabic. The analysis departed from the narrative genre of shared stories, and focused on claims about the CWS and how such claims are made credible. The findings show three types of claims within the shared story of ‘the CWS kidnapping migrant children’: families are victims of CWS’ malpractice; affected children suffer; and migrant families fear the CWS. These claims are made legitimate and credible by constructing the teller as an expert using time, place, and details while constructing the testimonies to invoke an emotional response. In conclusion, this study highlights how social reality is constructed and negotiated on social media, where migrant families’ testimonies of wrongdoings and fear become intertwined with larger stories of good and bad, truth or falsehood. It is therefore essential that claims made online is treated as signals of perceived vulnerability and institutional distance, rather than as “falsehoods” to be corrected, while CWS’ procedures and legal thresholds are clearly conveyed.

This study examines the evolution of public participation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq between 2016 and 2019, focusing on participatory reforms introduced under the Enhancing Democratization Program (EDP). Drawing on mixed methods–surveys, interviews, focus groups, and institutional documents – it analyses changes in access, trust, and perceived influence. The findings show that the EDP expanded visible participatory spaces and strengthened trust in civil society organizations and provincial councils, but had limited effects on confidence in government and parliament. Elite dominance, weak responsiveness, and selective inclusion constrained participants’ influence, leaving most forums consultative rather than transformative. Anchored in Arnstein’s distinction between symbolic and substantive participation, the article argues that procedural inclusion can widen participation without redistributing power. The Kurdistan case thus highlights a broader challenge of democratization in hybrid regimes: participation may expand in form while remaining limited in function.

Uppdraget att leda utbildning i akademin är centralt för högre utbildningskvalitet och utveckling, men får ofta begränsad uppmärksamhet. Den här rapporten bygger på en nationell kartläggning genomförd 2023–2024 inom Universitets- och högskolerådets högskolepedagogiska lyft. Målet har varit att förstå hur detta ledarskap formas, praktiseras och upplevs vid svenska lärosäten, och att bidra med kunskap som kan stärka dess strategiska och pedagogiska villkor.

Studien har en kvalitativ ansats och omfattar 93 fokusgruppsintervjuer med 335 deltagare från 36 lärosäten samt en inledande och en uppföljande enkät. Intervjuerna genomfördes i rollhomogena grupper på olika ledningsnivåer, från rektorer till programansvariga.

Vad som träder fram är bilden av ett ledarskap som inte bara kräver struktur och styrning, utan även omdöme, pedagogisk förståelse, vetenskaplig förankring och förmåga att skapa mening i komplexa sammanhang. Ledare beskriver hur de verkar i ett landskap där kollegialitet och linjestyrning möts och där uppdraget handlar mindre om att peka ut vägen än om att möjliggöra rörelse. Ledarskapet beskrivs som ett ansvar som bärs i samspel med andra snarare än utövas hierarkiskt.

Samtidigt visar studien att förutsättningarna ofta brister. Många ledare verkar med oklara mandat, otydliga uppdrag och begränsad tillgång till stöd. Karriärvägar saknas och kompetensutvecklingen tenderar att handla mer om administration än om pedagogisk och strategisk ledning. Ansvar för utbildningens kvalitet förväntas tas, men erkänns sällan som akademiskt meriterande.

Mot denna bakgrund lyfter rapporten fram behovet av ett akademiskt förhållningssätt till ledarskap. Såväl tidigare forskning som studiens resultat visar att ledarskap av utbildning i akademin innebär att ta ansvar för ett kunskapsområde som vilar på vetenskaplig kompetens: att tänka kritiskt, formulera relevanta frågor, pröva idéer och skapa förutsättningar för kollegialt lärande och utveckling. Det handlar också om att värna akademiska värden som integritet, nyfikenhet, eftertanke och bildning.

Flera ledare vittnar om att det som verkligen gör skillnad inte är fler riktlinjer, utan levande samtal, gemensam tolkning och förankring i den akademiska kulturen. Därför behöver ledarskap av utbildning i akademin erkännas och stödjas som en kollektiv kunskapspraktik: det är inte ett sidouppdrag, utan en del av den akademiska kärnan.

This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of international research on honour-based violence, with a focus on understanding its various manifestations and causes, identifying exposed groups and uncovering gaps in research. As shown in the introduction, honour-based violence is described and conceptualised in different contexts. This, in combination with the consequences of honour-based violence, both as a lived reality and political concept, shows the necessity of this review. The review is guided by scoping review, which is used as a model to address open questions and allow exploration and clarification of concepts and definitions within the literature. This broad-based approach allows different disciplines, perspectives and understandings of honour-based violence to emerge, contributing to knowledge development, knowledge exchange and further exploration of honour-based violence. By focusing on important parts of the literature, this review provides a broad and unique overview for both researchers and policymakers.

This research review describes scientific discourses, conducted in English, in which the study object is presented in relation to honour. This represents a significant constraint, as important non-Western perspectives may have been excluded, potentially influencing the overall findings. It describes what English-speaking researchers’ study and publish with regard to honour-based violence, how they understand honour-based violence and how they explore the consequences and underlying factors of these kinds of violence. It does not answer the question: what is honour-based violence?

The purpose of this article is to discuss the role of migration processes to changes in the world-system. We highlight the significanceof these processes and their impact through a comparative historical perspective. By using an approach based on an integrated comparison, two cases are compared: the rise of the early modern Dutch state to hegemony and the corresponding rise to hegemony bythe United States in the twentiethcentury. In presenting secondary sources on the two cases, we argue that neither expansion had been possible without a significant inflow of labor and skills carried by migrants. There seems to be a strong correlation between migration and changes in the world-system in general and the rise to hegemonic status in particular. By analyzing long-term processes like migration and its role in energizing and stimulating changes in the world-system, we argue, in line with the new economics of migration, that previous economic explanations to the rise of hegemony can be qualified. We also argue that the use of integrated comparison in the way we tentatively do in this paper can be fruitful in better understanding historical processes and their impact on power relations and economic relations in the world-system.

Forced migration has reached unprecedented levels worldwide. Involuntarily migration creates stressors for families that require systematic action at a societal level. Our premise is that parenting programmes have an untapped potential to enhance psychosocial health among parents and children. The aim of this study, therefore, was to review existing studies to evaluate the efficacy of preventive parenting programmes for parents who were refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced. We included 20 publications from 3 electronic databases (Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid PsycINFO and Web of Science Core Collection): 16 on parenting interventions (13 original trials, N = 1191) and 4 on combined interventions (parents and youth, N = 1284). We compared a range of outcomes including child internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as well as parental competence (positive/negative parenting), self-efficacy, well-being and mental health/psychological distress. Between-group analyses indicated less externalizing behaviour (Hedge's g = 0.43, p < 0.05, k = 2) at post measurement for parents participating in the interventions, compared with those in the control conditions, as well as enhanced positive parenting strategies (g = 0.89, p < .01, k = 2), self-efficacy (g = 1.94, p < .001, k = 2) and parental psychological distress (g = 0.67, p < .05, k = 4). Within-group analyses of pre and post measurements supported that parents participating in the interventions reported improvements over time in all primary outcomes: parent-rated child internalizing and externalizing behaviours, negative and positive parenting, self-efficacy and the secondary outcome psychological distress. Analyses of combined studies suggested a small increase in positive parenting strategies (g = 0.17, p < .05, k = 2). Although our sample of reviewed studies was relatively small, and the study outcomes varied considerably, the results indicate that parenting programmes might be an underutilized resource to promote health among forcibly displaced families.

Systematic review registration: PROSPERO (CRD42022330521).

I detta kapitel sammanfattas antologins samlade bidrag och placerar resultaten från forskningsprojektet om regional kollektivtrafik i ett bredare teoretiskt och policyrelevant sammanhang. Utgångspunkten är att införandet av kollektivtrafiklagen innebar en omfattande institutionell reform där ansvar och planeringsmandat för kollektivtrafiken omskalades från kommunal till regional nivå, genom etableringen av regionala kollektivtrafikmyndigheter (RKM). Kapitlet visar att reformen bör förstås i relation till bredare processer av regionalisering, europeisering och ökade krav på samordning kring hållbar utveckling. Med stöd i perspektiven omskalning och samverkan analyseras hur kollektivtrafikens styrning har förändrats i praktiken. Antologin visar att den regionala nivån stärkts strategiskt, särskilt i frågor kopplade till tillväxt, regionförstoring och klimatmål, medan genomförandet fortsatt är starkt beroende av kommunala insatser, inte minst inom fysisk planering, välfärdstjänster och tillgänglighet. Detta har skapat ett icke-hierarkiskt styrningslandskap i flera nivåer där samverkan framstår som en nödvändighet snarare än ett val, men också som en källa till fragmentering, otydligt ansvar och resurskrävande processer.

Vidare identifieras en tydlig spänning mellan tillväxtpolitiska och välfärdspolitiska logiker i kollektivtrafikens planering. Regionförstoringsstrategier prioriteras ofta, medan social hållbarhet, landsbygdens villkor och rättvis tillgång till mobilitet i högre grad hanteras lokalt och sällan operationaliseras i regionala mål. Avslutningsvis diskuteras statistikens och indikatorernas roll i styrningen, där bristande datakvalitet och förenklade mätetal riskerar att osynliggöra kollektivtrafikens komplexa samhällsuppdrag. Kapitlet avslutas med policyrekommendationer som betonar behovet av bättre samordning, tydligare ansvarsför-delning och stärkt analytisk kapacitet snarare än nya organisatoriska reformer.

Detta kapitel reflekterar över samverkan mellan forskning och praktik genom erfarenheter från arbetet med projektets referensgrupp. Samverkan har varit ett genomgående tema i antologin, både som empiriskt studieobjekt i relation till regional kollektivtrafik och som organisatorisk princip för forskningsprojektet genom att arbeta med en referensgrupp jämte forskningen. Kapitlet tar sin utgångspunkt i en iakttagelse av att referensgrupper är vanliga i samhällsorienterad forskning, men att det saknas mer utvecklade metodologiska resonemang kring deras funktion, värde och organisering. Med inspiration från teorier om transdisciplinär kunskapsproduktion diskuteras referensgruppen som en arena där forskningens analytiska och teoretiska perspektiv möter praktikens erfarenhetsbaserade kunskap. Kapitlet visar hur dialogen mellan forskare och praktiker bidragit till att utveckla systemkunskap, målkunskap och transformationskunskap i projektet, samtidigt som forskningens självständighet och ansvar enligt god forskningssed upprätthållits. Referensgruppen har fungerat som bollplank i frågor som rört forskningsdesign, val av fall, tolkning av resultat samt strategier för spridning och nyttiggörande av resultat.

Genom att sammanfatta referensgruppsdeltagarnas egna reflektioner synliggör kapitlet hur deltagandet bidragit till kompetensutveckling, nya nätverk och fördjupade kunskaper. Samtidigt pekas organisatoriska faktorer ut som avgörande för referensgruppens värdeskapande, såsom tydlig struktur, regelbundenhet, förberedande material och respekt för deltagarnas tid. Kapitlets slutsats är att referensgruppsarbete med fördel kan förstås som en transdisciplinär kunskapsprocess, där formerna för samverkan är avgörande för forskningens relevans och samhälleliga genomslag. Därmed knyter kapitlet samman antologins tematik kring styrning, samverkan och kunskap och pekar fram mot behovet av mer reflekterade och systematiserade former för samproduktion av kunskap i forskning om komplexa samhällsutmaningar.

Det här kapitlet fokuserar på den snabba ökningen av A-traktorer i Sverige och problematiserar föreställningen om att denna utveckling är en konsekvens av försämrad kollektivtrafik. Genom en kombination av litteraturöversikt, statistisk analys och intervjuer med kommunala planerare undersöks hur A-traktorer relaterar till kollektivtrafikens planering, landsbygdens mobilitetsvillkor och ungas vardagliga förflyttningar. Kapitlet visar att A-traktorer i huvudsak är ett landsbygdsfenomen, både som mobilitetslösning och som kulturellt uttryck. Den statistiska analysen visar att ökningen av A-traktorer är starkt kopplad till kommuntyp och geografiska förutsättningar snarare än till förändringar i kollektivtrafikens utbud. Sambandet mellan minskad kollektivtrafik och ökat antal A-traktorer är genomgående svagt, vilket utmanar förenklade förklaringar som ofta förekommer i den offentliga debatten.

Intervjuer ger en splittrad bild av sambandet mellan kollektivtrafik och A-traktorer. Medan vissa ser en indirekt koppling i specifika lokala sammanhang, betonar många att ökningen snarare drivs av faktorer som ungdomskultur, bilnormer, socioekonomiska förutsättningar och förändrade regelverk. A-traktorn framstår därmed inte enbart som ett substitut till kollektivtrafik, utan som ett socialt och identitetsskapande mobilitetsmedel som erbjuder frihet, flexibilitet och tillhörighet – dimensioner som kollektivtrafiken svårligen kan konkurrera med. Kapitlets övergripande slutsats är att A-traktorernas ökade utbredning bör förstås som ett uttryck för bredare strukturella skillnader mellan stad och land och för ungas mobilitetsvillkor i glesa geografier. För planering och policy innebär detta att A-traktorer behöver ses som en integrerad del av det rurala mobilitetssystemet, snarare än som ett marginellt fenomen eller en direkt följd av kollektivtrafikens utveckling.

I det här kapitlet diskuteras hur kollektivtrafiken på landsbygden i Sverige står inför en komplex utmaning: att kombinera transporteffektivitet och marknadsorienterade perspektiv med frågor kopplade till transporträttvisa, geografisk tillgänglighet och lokal utveckling. Som påtalats i tidigare kapitel var en av målsättningarna med den nya kollektivtrafiklagen att skapa en tydligare struktur för kollektivtrafikens planering och ansvar (se kapitel 2), men samtidigt har omskalningen av kollektivtrafikplaneringen skapat sprickor i planeringssystemet mellan kollektivtrafik och mobilitetsplanering i vidare bemärkelse. Dessa sprickor blir som mest påtagliga i landsbygdskommuner, där kommunala ansvar kopplade till lokal utveckling och välfärd stundtals hamnar i direkt kollisionskurs med RKM:s strävan efter transporteffektivitet och styrning mot starka stråk. Men i kapitlet visar vi även hur dessa utmaningar också skapar möjligheter att pröva nya innovativa lösningar för stärkt mobiliteten i glesa områden samt hur bil och kollektivtrafik integreras för att hitta nya lösningar för landsbygden. En övergripande slutsats är att framtidens landsbygdstrafik behöver ses som en del av välfärden snarare än enbart en transporttjänst, och att långsiktig samverkan mellan kommuner, regioner och stat är avgörande för att hela landet ska kunna leva.

Residential segregation contributes to unequal living conditions and opportunities for youths. Research in this field often focuses on the effects in marginalized areas and therefore tends to overlook socioeconomically advantaged groups, as well as how people’s everyday mobility shapes these processes. This dissertation examines the relationship between youth mobility and segregation processes by exploring how young people’s positions in social and physical space are expressed through their everyday mobility in a segregated city.

The theoretical framework deepens the understanding of place, segregation, and mobility, where Bourdieu’s theory of how capital and habitus influence an individual’s position in social space is complemented by Lefebvre’s ideas about physical space. The concept of embodied mobility is also developed, capturing the individual’s perception of themselves as a mobile or immobile subject.

The sample consists of youths (age 15–16) from areas with different socioeconomic classifications. Three data collection methods were used: mental maps (99 participants), interactive maps (96), and interviews (10), which were analysed using different content analysis methods.

The results show that areas that are socioeconomically similar to one’s own are most often included, while non-similar areas in this regard are excluded in the youths’ mental maps. The interactive maps and interviews show that the extent and patterns of mobility vary depending on the residential area and shape young people’s perceptions of themselves as mobile subjects. These differences are reinforced by gender and first language, including in perceptions of (un)safe places. Considering the study’s theoretical framework, segregation appears to operate as a social process in which differences in social space are translated into mobility in physical space. Boundary crossings, i.e. places where the mobility overlaps, have potential to challenge inequalities— something social work can contribute to through its responsibility for urban planning.

Detta kapitel problematiserar statistikens och nyckeltalens (KPI:ers) roll i styrningen av svensk kollektivtrafik och visar hur bristfälliga och svårjämförbara data skapar betydande kunskaps- och styrningsutmaningar. Med utgångspunkt i intervjuer med företrädare för 18 regionala kollektivtrafikmyndigheter (RKM) samt en kritisk genomgång av vanligt förekommande indikatorer analyserar kapitlet hur mätbarhet både möjliggör och begränsar förståelsen av kollektivtrafikens utveckling. Kapitlet visar att variationer i den nationella statistiken i första hand bör förstås som ett systemproblem snarare än som uttryck för faktiska skillnader i trafikens omfattning eller kvalitet. Skillnader i organisatoriska lösningar, skatteväxling, ansvarsfördelning och tolkning av nationella anvisningar innebär att likartade indikatorer kan fyllas med olika innehåll i olika regioner. Följden blir att jämförelser mellan län och över tid ofta saknar metodologisk robusthet, trots att just sådana jämförelser ligger till grund för politisk uppföljning, benchmarking och strategiska beslut.

Genom en fördjupad diskussion av sju vanligt använda KPI:er visar kapitlet hur komplexa mobilitetssystem reduceras till förenklade mått som tenderar att spegla geografi, demografi och organisatoriska val snarare än faktisk tillgänglighet, rättvisa eller samhällsnytta. Samtidigt framhålls att KPI:er inte är neutrala tekniska verktyg, utan uttryck för styrningslogiker, politiska prioriteringar och institutionella praktiker. Kapitlets sammantagna slutsats är att kollektivtrafikens styrning kräver ett mer robust, transparent och reflexivt indikatorsystem. Detta förutsätter både ökad nationell standardisering och en bredare förståelse av statistikens begränsningar, där kvantitativa mått kompletteras med kvalitativ och kontextuell kunskap för att bättre fånga kollektivtrafikens roll som samhällsbärande infrastruktur.

Detta kapitel beskriver framväxten, organiseringen och strategiska överväganden för regionala kollektivtrafikmyndigheter (RKM) efter implementeringen av Kollektivtrafiklagen (SFS 2010:1065). Genom en kombination av dokumentstudier, intervjuer och jämförelser mellan 17 län belyser kapitlet hur lagstiftningens flexibilitet möjliggjort divergerande organisatoriska lösningar. Kapitlet visar att Kollektivtrafiklagen har resulterat i tre huvudsakliga organisationsmodeller: regionaliserade myndigheter, kommunalförbund samt hybridorganisering. Dessa modeller speglar hur inrättandet av RKM har påverkats av den successiva processen för regionbildningen i Sverige och även avstrukturella skillnader mellan täta och glesa geografier. Organiseringen av RKM diskuteras utifrån hur detta innebär en ”omskalning” av planeringsmandat men utan att relationen mellan den regionala nivån för RKM och kommunerna är formellt hierarkiskt.

Kapitlets översikt över hur RKM:er resonerar kring strategiska överväganden omfattar tre teman. Det första handlar om hållbar utveckling, för vilket RKM tolkar sitt uppdrag utifrån ett flerdimensionellt hållbarhetsbegrepp, där ekologiska, sociala och ekonomiska målsättningar är ömsesidigt beroende och ibland kan stå i konflikt. Det andra temat handlar om kollektivtrafikens relation till transportsystemet i stort och som gör att ”hela-resan”-principen blir central. RKM betraktar kollektivtrafik som både komplement och konkurrent till andra transportslag. Det tredje temat för strategiska överväganden handlar om mellanregional samverkan och strategisk styrkapacitet. Kapitlet visar dock att mellanregional samverkan präglas av asymmetrier: mindre regioner är ofta mer beroende av samverkan än större stadsregioner, vilket påverkar maktbalansen och möjligheterna till gemensam styrning.

Det här kapitlet introducerar en antologi baserad på ett forskningsprojekt om styrning och planering för allmän kollektivtrafik i Sverige efter införandet av den nya kollektivtrafiklagen, implementerad från 2012. Lagen innebar att 21 regionala kollektivtrafikmyndigheter (RKM) bildades och att ansvar för planering av den allmänna kollektivtrafiken flyttades från kommuner till regioner. Eftersom planering för allmän kollektivtrafik genom RKM är beroende av kommunernas planering inom sina ansvar för fysisk planering, skolskjuts och färdtjänst behöver RKM och kommuner samverka. Begreppet för omskalning och processer kring samverkan är centrala utgångspunkter för forskningen inom projektet. Omskalning, handlar om hur ansvar förflyttas mellan planeringsnivåer, och samverkan uppstår eftersom aktörer är beroende av varandra för att organisera för kollektivtrafik. RKM och kommuner är ömsesidigt beroende av varandra, framför allt genom:

• Relation mellan allmän och särskild kollektivtrafik där samordning kan bidra till hållbarhet utifrån dess olika dimensioner

• Relationer mellan kommunerna fysiska planering och RKM:ernas planering för kollektivtrafik.

Antologin bygger på tre huvudmaterial: intervjuer med 18 RKM, strukturerade intervjuer med 49 kommunala planerare samt analyser av tre generationer regionala trafikförsörjningsprogram (2012–2024). Projektet studerar planering av kollektivtrafik i 18 landets 21 län; storstadslänen Stockholm, Västra Götaland och Skåne ingår inte.

Antologins syfte är att samla och förklara forskningsprojektets resultat på svenska och riktar sig till praktiker och studenter med intresse i kollektivtrafik och samhällsplanering. Den består av tio kapitel som kan läsas både separat och som en helhet.

Hur påverkades kollektivtrafiken i Sverige när de regionala kollektivtrafikmyndigheterna (RKM) bildades? Denna övergripande fråga är utgångspunkten för denna antologi, som diskuterar effekterna av den nyakollektivtrafiklagen som trädde i kraft 2012. Antologin tar avstamp iett flerårigt forskningsprojekt och visar hur reformen har påverkat ansvarsfördelning, styrning och samverkan mellan regioner, kommuneroch statliga aktörer.

Antologin visar att den regionala nivån har fått en tydligare strategiskroll, särskilt i kopplingen mellan kollektivtrafik, regionförstoring, arbetsmarknad och klimatmål. Samtidigt är genomförandet fortsatt beroende av kommunernas planering och genomförande av sitt välfärdsuppdrag. Resultatet är ett flernivåsystem där ingen aktör ensam styrutvecklingen och där samverkan är en praktisk nödvändighet.

Flera kapitel lyfter fram spänningen mellan tillväxtmål och social hållbarhet, mellan starka pendlingsstråk och landsbygdens behov, samtmellan strategiska ambitioner och ekonomiska realiteter. Antologindiskuterar också hur statistik och indikatorer formar synen på kollektivtrafikens resultat, och vilka utmaningar som finns i dagens uppföljningssystem.

Sammantaget ger boken en samlad bild av de möjligheter och utmaningar som präglar regional kollektivtrafik i dag. Den riktar sig tillpraktiker och beslutsfattare som vill förstå hur organisering, samverkanoch lokala förutsättningar påverkar kollektivtrafikens utveckling i ett föränderligt styrningslandskap.

The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Third Edition (ECERS-3), is widely used to assess preschool quality. However, concerns remain about its scoring structure, usage in different cultural contexts, and associations with structural quality indicators. This study explored the factor structure of the ECERS-3 and its relationship with teacher education, child-to-adult ratio, group size, and preschool size in 71 Swedish municipal preschools. Confirmatory factor analysis showed poor fit for both the single-factor modeland the original six-subscale structure. Exploratory factor analysis identified a better-fitting four-factor structure: Learning & Play Environment, Interactions & Order, Gross Motor, and Care & Hygiene. We further investigated whether adopting this revised factor structure influenced relationships between ECERS-3 dimensions and structural quality indicators. Analyses of associations with structural quality indicators showed that smaller group sizes were linked to higher quality in Gross Motor activities. Among preschools with group sizes below 15 children, smaller groups were also associated with higher quality in Learning & Play Environment, Care & Hygiene, and overall ECERS-3 scores. Pedagogical and interactional dimensions showed limited or inconsistent relationships with structural variables. Future research should carefully consider how ECERS-3 scores are analyzed and be mindful of potential threshold effects when exploring associations with structural quality.