Numerous studies, using the Europeanization theoreticalframework, have looked into why and how EU-supportednorms and policies are adopted in non EU-Member States, focusingeither on the mechanisms through which they are diffusedor on the local actors´ responses to such demands. However,the practical implementation of such norms and policies in thirdcountries has only received modest attention in academic andpolicy-related studies. Indeed, the “law in the books” is not necessarilythe “law in action”.Going beyond the top-down approach that have extensively characterized Europeanization studies, this dissertation will operatea return to the “mundane face” of Europeanization and looks intohow expert interactions matter for EU law implementation. It showsthat those experts ae highly enthusiast and willing to implement EUdemands and adapted them to fit in their domestic context. Theyact as policy champions and show high degrees of policy saliencywhen fulfilling their tasks. Nevertheless, those champions operatein a difficult administrative and political environment that complicatesEU law compliance, with low administrative capacity, highdegree of staff turn-over, shortages of knowledgeable staff andpolitical actors that might hinder EU law implementation if it is toocostly or in contradiction with domestic vested interests.

Parents with intellectual disabilities are seldomly heard in research about parenting. 

Based on the parents’ own voices, this thesis contributes to deepened knowledge about parenting among persons with intellectual disability. 

By listening to twenty-three parents, my purpose has been to illuminate how parents themselves understand their parenting. The study is mainly based on an interactionist perspective and focuses on how parenting is done. 

To deal with the stigmatizing perceptions and to ward off a perceived threat that the children may be taken from them, the parents use several strategies. These strategies function as a way of counteracting the questioning of their parenting, but above all the parents emphasize giving their children a good childhood. 

In general, the parents experience that their care practices work well when children’s needs are practical and arise in a routinized close to everyday reality. With higher demands on the ability to improvise and financial resources, care is perceived as a greater challenge. Experiences of being listened to and receiving support can counteract feelings of being made suspicious and can promote autonomy and security. But the support can also give rise to feelings of dependence. This is especially valid for women. 

More than 26,000 children and young people are placed in out-of-home care in Sweden every year. Several studies show that children placed in out of home care have poorer health during childhood and are generally in poorer physical condition later in life. The overall aim of this thesis was to study dental health and dental care in children in out-of-home care (OHC), through registry-based research. Paper I was a registry-based study of dental health care utilisation among young adults who as children had been placed in societal out-of-home care. These young adults had more emergency dental visits and more extractions and fewer regular scheduled dental check-ups than their peers who had never experienced OHC.

Paper II was a systematic review/HTA to evaluate organisational models intended to ensure that children and young people in out-of-home care will receive health and dental care. We were unable to identify any study, of low or medium risk of bias, which examined the effects of organisational models on provision of health and dental care for children and young people in foster care and in institutions.

Papers III and IV were validation studies of the Swedish Quality Registry for Caries and Periodontal Diseases (SKaPa), undertaken to determine the accuracy of the registry and whether it was appropriate for application in the next study (Paper V) and for other research purposes. For dft/DFT, the validation studies showed high agreement between the data in the patient records and the SKaPa registry. However, e/M in deft/DMFT was shown to be uncertain.

Paper V was a registry-based study linking different registries, to investigate dental health and dental care in children in OHC. This study showed that children in OHC have more caries and undergo fewer dental health assessments than those who have never been placed in OHC. There was a difference in dental health examinations before and after the year 2017, with higher frequencies of assessments after the legislative amendment in 2017. However, differences remain.

Development of wireless sensors and biosensors is currently experiencing a rapid progress with a substantial focus directed toward highlighting their potential applications as non-invasive wearables, implants, and highly mobile point-of-care devices. Integration of wireless biosensors into the Internet of Things (IoT) is widely acknowledged as a technological advancement with the potential to significantly change daily life. To maximize this potential, simple integration of biosensors with wireless communication elements would be advantageous. In this regard, systems functioning in chipless, and battery-less modes outperform integrated circuit (IC) based and battery-powered wireless biosensors. Nevertheless, the accessibility of these wireless designs is still limited. In this study, we present a novel approach where incorporating silver nanoparticles(AgNPs) as a part of the radio frequency (RF) tag antenna enables the realization of simple, chipless, and battery-less wireless sensing of biological oxidation and reduction reactions. We exemplified the mechanism of operation in such systems by electronic wiring of enzymes through direct electron transfer (DET) and microorganisms through mediated electron transfer (MET) to the redox conversion of Ag/AgCl. The wiring was designed to facilitate the transformation of metallic AgNPs into AgCl (Ag → AgCl) or the conversion of AgCl particles back into metallic AgNPs (AgCl → Ag) when the enzymatic/microorganism based electron transfer reactions were present. These reactions occurring on the biosensor RF tag antenna strongly changed the impedance of the tag, which was wirelessly monitored by a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader. The functionality of the proposed setup in direct electron transfer coupling of the enzymatic reactions to the redox conversion of the Ag/AgCl was demonstrated by wireless detection of glucose in whole blood samples and hydrogen peroxide penetrated through the skin membrane using the enzymes glucose dehydrogenase(GDH) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Additionally, the capability of the proposed configuration in mediated electron transfer wiring of microorganisms to the Ag/AgCl electrochemistry was shown by wireless monitoring of medically relevant microbial biofilms in simulated wound fluid. Generalizing, the results of this work, for the first time, demonstrated that exploiting Ag/AgCl as a part of the tag antenna allows simple, chipless, and battery-less wireless sensing of biological oxidation and reduction reactions.

Realizing the environmental and social benefits of cycling requires effective policies that deliver increased and inclusive cycling. This thesis aims to contribute to the development of such policies by providing insights into what could make cycling achievable for more diverse social groups through engaging with theoretical perspectives from transport geography, the mobilities paradigm and social justice. In doing so the thesis examines the various elements that constitute an individual’s potential to use a bicycle and the connected inequalities.

The thesis employs conceptions of accessibility and motility in combination with measures of inequality to examine the socio-spatial inequalities in cycling potentials. The first paper designs a new composite indicator based on Theil’s index of inequality and accessibility measures to study inequalities in bike-and-ride opportunities in Malmö. The second paper develops a quantitative operationalization of cycling motility by applying GIS-based and statistical analyses to empirical data collected using a survey study. Specifically, cycling motility is operationalized along three dimensions of access, competence, and appropriation. This is done by measuring cycling-related material and nonmaterial, as well as objective and subjective factors related to individuals and their social, cultural, and geographical environment.

The subsequent papers put the concept of cycling motility in practice. The third paper builds on the approach developed in the second paper and examines inequalities in the cycling motility across different social groups from the three-dimensional justice lens of Nancy Fraser. Finally, the fourth paper provides insights into the relationships between individuals’ cycling motility and their realized mobility. The empirical findings highlight that such relationships vary across three urban contexts of Malmö, Gothenburg, and Beijing. Overall, the findings support that the operationalization of cycling motility is useful for studying individuals’ cycling potentials and capturing the connected between-individual differences, thereby helpful for development of policies that could realize the social and environmental potentials of cycling.

Avhandlingen undersöker orala bakteriers svar till utifrån kommande signaler på en molekylärbiologisk nivå. I delarbete I kartläggs proteiner med serin/treonin/ tyrosin fosforylering i relation till det generella proteomet hos en oral streptokock (Streptococcus gordonii DL1). De identifierade fosfoproteinerna kunde kopplas till olika bakteriella processer, varav flera av intresse ur kariessynpunkt. Jämförelse mot andra bakteriers fosfoproteom visade många likheter, vilket är av intresse för identifiering av delade fosforyleringsprofiler. 

I delarbete II undersöks skillnader i det generella proteomet hos S. gordonii DL1 mellan tillväxtfaserna planktonisk och biofilm, samt reglerande effekter av salivmucinet MUC5B på biofilmscellerna proteinuttryck. Skillnaderna i proteinuttryck mellan tillväxtfaser ger ledtrådar om bakteriernas mekanismer för anpassning till biofilmstillväxt. 

Delarbete III studeras salivmucinet MUC5Bs reglerande roll på vidhäftning och metabolism i biofilmer med kliniska isolat av S. gordonii CW samt Actinomyces naeslundii CW. S. gordonii ökade vidhäftningen av A. naeslundii till MUC5B. Båda arterna kunde också använda MUC5B som enda näringskälla under tidig biofilmsbildning, både enskilt och tillsammans. Responserna som MUC5B framkallade i biofilmerna (paper II och III) verkar främja kolonisering av kommensaler och samtidigt nedreglera kariesrelaterade aktiviteter. 

Mikrobiologiska studier fokuserar ofta på dysbiosis och sjukdomsutveckling, men mekanismer som bibehåller eubiosis är minst lika viktiga för att förstå hur oral hälsa kan främjas. Resultat kopplade till orala bakteriers svar på utifrån kommande signaler kan bidra till framtida utveckling av nya strategier för prevention och identifiering av prediktiva biomarkörer för oral hälsa. 

In recent years, the European Union (EU) has strengthened its foreign, security and defence policy in a remarkable way. Several new supranational security and defence initiatives have been launched and implemented, which have given the European Commission a new and central role in European security and defence policy. These swift developments are puzzling, since foreign policy and security and defence policy have long been understood as the ‘last bastions of sovereignty’ for EU member states and have thus been regarded as the least-likely cases for supranational integration. This thesis shows how the Commission has been the central driver behind these changes; it does so by conducting three focused case studies/articles to explore and explain the evolution of a new and enhanced role for the European Commission in EU security and defence cooperation during the period 2014–2023. By researching the establishment of the European Defence Fund, the EU Military Mobility project and the new policies and initiatives developed after Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022, this dissertation analyses new competences for the European Commission within EU security and defence policy. This dissertation conceptually and analytically builds on diverse strands of integration literature, drawing on neofunctionalism, the Commission’s policy entrepreneurship and agenda setting, and crisis pressure to retrace in detail these three important empirical processes. The main contribution of this dissertation is to show how the European Commission’s initiatives and strategies have been indispensable in the strengthening of EU integration within security and defence.

This thesis consists of an introduction outlining the overall research agenda and three stand-alone articles: 

1. Håkansson, C. 2021. The European Commission’s new role in EU security and defence cooperation: The case of the European Defence Fund, European Security, Vol. 30:4, 589-608.
2. Håkansson, C. 2023a. The strengthened role of the European Union in defence: The case of the Military Mobility project, Defence Studies, Vol. 23:3, 436–456.  
3. Håkansson, C. 2023b. The Ukraine war and the emergence of the European commission as a geopolitical actor, Journal of European Integration, 1-21.

Denna avhandling är inriktad på utveckling av elektrokemiska (bio-)sensorer som är särskilt utformade för detektering av biomolekyler och bakterier i mänskliga fysiologiska vätskor. Genom att undersöka sensorerna i verkliga mänskliga fysiologiska vätskor, kan man få en mer omfattande förståelse för deras prestanda. Fyra olika biosensorer har utformats och testats i saliv, plasma, blod och urin. En voltammetrisk elektronisk tunga, som integrerar sex olika elektrodmaterial, utvecklades för kvalitativ bedömning av SARS-CoV-2 i salivprover med hjälp av principalkomponentanalys. En rörformad enzymbaserad sensor som använder inkorporerat Cellobiose Dehydrogenase i en Os(bpy)PVI redoxpolymer användes för kontinuerlig glukosmätning i humant plasma och outspätt helblod under homeostatiska förhållanden. Dessutom utvecklades två olika sensorkoncept för märkningsfri detektion av bakterier (Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis och Klebsiella pneumoniae) i artificiell urin och humanurin baserat på metabolisk aktivitet till följd av bakterietillväxt. Den första sensorn möjliggjorde kontinuerlig bakteriedetektion genom reduktion av preussiskt blått elektroder med trådlös dataöverföring. Den andra bakteriekänsliga sensorn använde elektrokemisk karakterisering för att identifiera tre typer av bakterier baserat på metaboliska förändringar i artificiell urin. För en kvalitativ undersökning av de metaboliska förändringarna användes dessutom nukleär magnetisk resonans och flödescytometri för att kvantifiera och korrelera bakterietillväxt med elektrokemi. Multivariat statistisk dataanalys användes för att skilja mellan bakteriefri och bakterieinfekterad (artificiell) urin. Slutligen gavs en översikt över de senaste framstegen inom området för icke-invasiva elektrokemiska biosensorer som arbetar i utsöndrade mänskliga fysiologiska vätskor, dvs. tårar, svett, saliv och urin.

Avhandlingen bygger på två separata delstudier förenade av den övergripande tematiken hedersnormer. Ur ett fenomenologiskt livsvärldsperspektiv undersöks tankar och erfarenheter i två olika grupper. Den första delstudien bygger på djupintervjuer med 15 ungdomar som lever i kontexter där familjegemenskap, socialt anseende och kvinnlig kyskhet ges stor betydelse, och där föreställningar kopplade till detta präglar deras vardag och handlingsutrymme. Ungdomarna har olika etnisk och religiös bakgrund men har vuxit upp i samma bostadsområde. Med sex av dem har uppföljande intervjuer gjorts efter några år. Delstudie nummer två har genomförts i samverkan med Kriminalvården. Den omfattar en analys av 64 domar varur olika grad av hedersrelaterade omständigheter kunnat utläsas, samt djupintervjuer med 13 personer dömda för brott som av myndighetens personal bedömts ha koppling till hedersnormer. Även här varierar etnisk och religiös bakgrund såväl som brottstyper och strafftider. Två av de dömda klienterna har intervjuats vid mer än ett tillfälle. I intervjuerna berörs upplevelser av normer och normkonflikter kring olika fenomen som familjelojalitet, värdering och reglering av relationer och sexualitet, kön och könsroller, våld, (icke-)svenskhet etc. Berättelserna beskriver ett invecklat spänningsfält mellan å ena sidan individuell frihet och autonomi och å andra sidan betydelsen av grupptillhörighet och kollektiv identitet. Gemensamt för båda grupper är att de lever i sammansatta världar där hederns betydelse förvisso är påtaglig men samtidigt svår att urskilja från andra påverkansfaktorer. I de uppföljande intervjuerna kan förändringar i normerna både på individ- och familjenivå skönjas över tid. Hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck har varit en uttalad angelägenhet för den svenska staten under flera decennier. Frågan har laddats med betydelse på olika plan och lett till konflikter och positioneringar i den akademiska världen såväl som i politik och praktik. Under åren har kontexten kring forskningsfrågorna förändrats genom sociala skeenden och politiska åtgärder i syfte att bekämpa problematiken. Detta syns bland annat i reformerna av lagstiftningen, där nya brottsrubriceringar med särskild inriktning på heder tillkommit, samt i nya formuleringar om ansvar för att motverka hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck i grund- och gymnasieskolans läroplaner. Därmed blir det intressant att resonera kring hur samhällets försök att komma tillrätta med hedersproblematiken kan förstås utifrån det empiriska underlaget, det vill säga rösterna från personer som själva på olika sätt lever eller har levt i kontexter präglade av hedersnormer. Avhandlingen utmynnar således i en diskussion kring hur systemnivån i form av samhälleliga intentioner och interventioner förhåller sig till nyanserna i de berördas livsvärldar. Några av de drag som framstår är att problematiken inte är enkel att förstå och tolka, och att hedern som fenomen är svår att särskilja och ringa in på det sätt som lagar och styrdokument kräver. Genom avhandlingen belyses att hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck förvisso är en allvarlig problematik som behöver mötas av insatser på många olika nivåer, men att det är fråga om ett komplext fenomen som innebär en utmaning för många olika verksamheter vad gäller både förståelse och hantering, och som kräver ett relationellt och dialogbaserat förhållningssätt med de målgrupper som berörs.

Our phones have many uses for positioning technologies, such as navigation, LocationBased Services (LBS), emergency positioning, fitness applications, and advertising. We trust our phones and wearables to be location-aware. However, as soon as we enter a building, we can no longer use GPS signals, as their already weak signals are well below the background noise of the environment. This requires us to develop alternatives, such as installing active radio beacons, using existing radio infrastructure, applying environmental sensing based on barometric pressure and magnetic fields, or utilizing Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) to estimate the user location. This licentiate thesis aims to evaluate beacon-based indoor positioning, where we assume installing a set of small battery-powered Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) beacons are possible. In particular, the thesis addresses essential factors such as installation effort, accuracy, the privacy aspects of an Indoor Positioning System(IPS), and mitigation of accuracy issues related to radio signal shadowing in complex indoor environments. The goal is to solve some obstacles to the widespread adoption of indoor positioning solutions.

Apical periodontitis is a very common condition. Epidemiological research suggests that nearly 50% of the global adult population may have had at least one affected tooth and that approximately 40% of root-filled teeth may be associated with apical periodontitis. Since apical periodontitis is caused by microorganisms in the root canal system, every measure taken to reduce the microbial burden during treatment is of importance. The high prevalence of apical periodontitis associated with root-filled teeth suggests that dentists in general may have problems eliminating microorganisms in the root canals and avoiding contamination of the root canals when performing endodontic treatments. 

Most non-surgical endodontic treatments are performed by general dentists. It can be assumed that improvement of endodontic infection control in general dentistry could have a positive impact on the overall outcome of endodontic treatments. The aim of this project was to render a better understanding of endodontic infection control in general dentistry. 

Study I and II consisted of a two-folded cross-sectional questionnaire regarding general dentists’ endodontic infection control measures, sources of knowledge, and self-assessed skills. Study III and V consisted of two cross-sectional mixed methods surveys regarding dental health care workers’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, and perceived barriers and facilitators to hand hygiene adherence. Study IV was a prospective observational study which evaluated endodontic operative field asepsis by assessing general dentists’ ability to reduce the contamination to a non-cultivable level.

The vast majority reported using a dental dam and most disinfected the endodontic operative field. However, one in 10 did not use hand disinfectant at all during endodontic treatments. More than half of the respondents did not know, or did not believe, that the initial diagnosis affected the outcome of their endodontic treatments, indicating an underestimation of microbiological factors’ impact on treatment outcome. The majority graded their endodontic treatment outcome and their infection control adherence as good, though several admitted not fully adhering to the infection control guidelines. The clinical study found relatively high levels of contamination on the operative field in general dentistry, which indicates poor aseptic control.

Knowledge, education, and a supportive work environment were perceived as facilitators to infection control. Recurring themes regarding barriers were a lack of training and performance feedback, conflicting messages and conflicting demands, and lack of resources (mainly time). Several respondents reported situations where they had felt pressured to make compromises with their infection control measures.  Most based their endodontic management of patients on what they had been taught during their undergraduate training. A third of the general dentists had not attended any continuing endodontic education. 

The results from the included studies show that although dental professionals may have the intention to adhere to infection control guidelines, they are influenced by various other factors, which may result in nonadherence. There are also indications that the awareness of the risks of contamination occurring during treatment, and the subsequent negative impact contamination may have on treatment outcome, may be lacking. Although both dentists and other dental health care workers graded their knowledge and performance of, for example hand hygiene, as good, several other responses indicated their estimations may be misestimations. 

Further research into what affects endodontic infection control performance is needed, particularly regarding hand hygiene. Additional attention must be paid to the settings in which general dentists operate, as the ability to choose different measures may be limited by environmental and organizational factors. The future challenge is to raise awareness in general dentistry about the microbiological aspects of endodontic treatments and the critical importance of infection control. It would be of value to add more observational data to compare views with what is performed in clinical practice.

Public transport is an efficient way to transport large volumes of travellers. However, there are systemic issues that make it hard for conventional public transport to provide efficient service on finer levels, like first- and last-mile problems or low-demand areas. One of the potential solutions that has been getting a lot of attention recently in research and real practice is Demand-Responsive Transport(DRT). The main difference between demand-responsive services and conventional public transport is the need for explicit requests for a trip from the travellers. The service then adapts the routes of the vehicles to satisfy the requests as efficiently as possible. One of the aims of such transport services is to combine the flexibility and accessibility of travel modes like taxis and private cars with the efficiency of buses achieved through ride-sharing.DRT has the potential to improve public transport in, for example, low population density areas or for people with mobility limitations who could request a trip directly to a home door. Historically DRT has been extensively used for special transportation while the recent trend in research and practice explores the possibility of using this service type for the general population.The history of DRT shows a large degree of discontinued trials and services together with low utilisation of vehicles and limited efficiency levels. In practice, this leads to measures restricting the trip destination, times when service is available, or eligibility to use the service at all in case of special transport DRT. Due to the limited use of DRT services, there is little data collected on the efficiency of the service and transport agencies exploring the possibility of introducing this new service type face difficulties in estimating its potential.The main goal of this thesis is to contribute towards developing a decisionsupport method for transport analysts, planners, or decision-makers who want to evaluate the systemic effect of a DRT service such as costs, emissions and effecton society. Decision-makers should be able to evaluate and compare a large variety of DRT design choices like booking time restrictions, vehicle fleet type, target trip quality level, or stop allocation pattern. Using a design science, we develop a simulation approach which is evaluated with two simulation experiments. The simulation experiments themselves provide valuable insight into the potential of DRT services, explore the niche where DRT could provide the most benefits and advocate taking into account the sustainability perspective for a comprehensive comparison of transport modes.

The findings from the simulation experiments indicate that DRT, even in its extreme forms like fully autonomous shared taxis, does not show the level of efficiency that could result in a revolution in transportation — it is hard to compete inefficiency with conventional public transport in urban zones. However, in scenarios with lower demand levels, it could be more efficient to replace conventional buses with a DRT service when considering costs and emissions. We also show that, when integrated with conventional public transport, DRT could help alleviate the last-mile problem by improving accessibility to long-distance lines. Additionally, if car users are attracted to public transport with the help of DRT, there is a potential to significantly reduce the total level of emissions.

The simulation results indicate that the proposed simulation method can be applied for the evaluation of DRT. The implementation of trip planning combining DRT and conventional public transport is a major contribution of this thesis. We show that the integration between services may be important for the efficiency of the service, especially when considering the sustainability aspects.

Finally, this thesis indicates the direction for further research. The proposed simulation approach is suitable for the estimation of the potential of DRT but lacks the ability to make a prediction of the demand for DRT. Integration of a realistic mode choice model and day-to-day simulations are important for making predictions. We also note the complexity of the DRT routing for large-scale problems which prohibits a realistic estimation with simulation and the efficient operation of the service.

Radiographic imaging of the mandibular third molar (M3) is a valuable diagnostic tool. It provides information on tooth position, root morphology, and relations to surrounding anatomical structures that facilitates diagnosis and treatment planning. Three modalities are commonly used in dentistry: intraoral and panoramic radiography, and cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). Over time, panoramic radiography became a justified choice in most cases of M3 removal. In the last decade, a three-dimensional (3D) alternative, CBCT, has seen increasing use. The advantages of 3D come at the cost of higher radiation doses and societal expense. The four studies in this thesis originated from current knowledge gaps and clinical needs.

The use of panoramic radiography for evaluating the M3 and its relation to the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) is well-established practice; however, its application has declined over time, possibly due to the rising popularity of CBCT imaging. Thus, it is of interest to investigate the suitability of panoramic imaging of the M3. Choice of imaging modality is important from dose delivery and socioeconomic standpoints. A survey of clinician experiences and preferences in imaging modalities for pre-surgical analysis was needed.

In diagnostic imaging, the common goal is to reduce radiation exposure to the lowest threshold that still delivers reliable diagnostic information. Due to the growing use of CBCT, there is a need to optimize exposure settings and use reliable measurement methods in dosimetric analysis. Nevertheless, for the M3, the present literature has neither evaluated a low-dose protocol in a clinical setting nor compared the standard method of measuring absorbed dose in dental CBCT with an alternative method.

This thesis is based on the following papers:

Paper I, an observational study, evaluated M3 characteristics and IAN relation, incidental findings, and image quality regarding patient positioning on 442 panoramic radiographs. 

Key findings: A majority of M3s were erupted and vertically positioned, regardless of age. The IAN was located inferior to the roots in just over half of the cases; an overlapping position was most common if the tooth was retained or semi-retained, or patient age less than 30 years. Frequent incidental findings were apical radiolucencies, idiopathic osteosclerosis, and tooth fragments. Patient positioning was suboptimal in one-third of the radiographs; common errors included patient placement posterior to the image layer and an upward-tilted head. 

Paper II was a web-based questionnaire sent to general dentists and to residents and specialists in oral and maxillofacial surgery. The survey comprised multiple-choice questions with four M3 cases depicted in images. 

Key findings: A majority of respondents received a report within 2 weeks of their CBCT referral and would read it and view the images before surgery; one-third did not. Panoramic radiographs were the preferred modality in pre-surgical planning; differences between professions were significant. Panoramic radiographs and CBCT were seen as facilitating treatment planning, and CBCT as also reducing post-operative complications. CBCT tended to be preferred in more complex M3 cases. 

Paper III was a clinical trial investigating an alternative, low-dose CBCT protocol with lower tube current than the default protocol. After justification for CBCT, 48 patients (62 M3s) referred for a pre-surgical investigation were recruited. Two scans of each site were made using the two protocols

Key findings: No significant differences occurred in visibility of root and mandibular canal relationship and proximity, root morphology, and possible root resorption of the second molar. Visibility of the periodontal ligament was significantly better in default images. Subjective image quality in low-dose images (60% less radiation) was acceptable in most cases. 

Paper IV was a laboratory study comparing two dosimeters in a CBCT scan of the M3 region. Five slices of an anthropomorphic phantom were prepared with thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD-100) at 75 sites and covered with Gafchromic film LD-V1. 

Key findings: Point dose measurements at all TLD sites correlated well with doses measured on film; agreement was better at lower doses. Minimum and maximum doses on film versus at TLD sites deviated greatly on all slices and for several organs. 

To conclude, panoramic radiography is useful in evaluating M3 and IAN relationships. Clinicians consider pre-surgical information to differ depending on imaging modality; modality preference seems to depend on case complexity. Optimized CBCT protocols can be used for the M3. Gafchromic film is a favorable alternative in dental CBCT dosimetry

Den här doktorsavhandlingen berättar om marknadspraktiker, flyktingplaceringspolitik och bostadsprekaritet i bostadsojämlikhetens Sverige. Huvudpersonerna i berättelserna är människor som sökte asyl och beviljades uppehållstillstånd i Sverige åren runt den så kallade flyktingkrisen 2015 och i fokus är deras boendevägar – deras vindlande vägar – under de första åren i landet. De flesta av forskningsdeltagarna är inkomstfattiga, vilket gör att de har erfarit betydande svårigheter att hitta någonstans att bo – erfarenheter som de delar med ett ökande antal inkomstfattiga hushåll i en tid präglad av bostadsbrist och tilltagande bostadsojämlikhet. Men genom att kategoriseras som asylsökande eller nyanlända omfattas forskningsdeltagarna därtill av särlagstiftning, som genom selektiva åtgärder som både villkorar, underlättar och kringskär deras bostadsmarknadspositioner men också skiljer ut dem från andra hushåll inom ramen för en förment generell bostadspolitisk modell. I syfte att nyansera och fördjupa förståelsen av bostadsojämlikhetens konsekvenser i en svensk kontext studeras i avhandlingen denna partikulära position.

Utifrån en etnografisk ansats och med utgångspunkt i intervjuer, samtal, deltagande observationer och policyanalys utforskas hur forskningsdeltagarnas boendevägar formas och hur det går att förstå dessa i relation till å ena sidan de praktiker som forskningsdeltagarna utvecklar på svenska bostadsmarknader och å andra sidan den politiska styrningen av boende och bosättning för kategorierna asylsökande och nyanlända.

Avhandlingen visar att boendevägarna kan beskrivas som kaotiska; med återkommande flyttar, in och ut ur olika, ofta trångbodda hushållsformationer och påfallande ofta med osäkra kontraktsförhållanden. Dock framgår att de formas genom beslut som fattas efter noga överväganden, utifrån skiftande behov och med hänsyn till relationer över tid och rum. Vidare framgår att olika marknadspraktiker har betydelse för deras möjligheter att få tillgång till bostad. Framför allt hyr de bostad inom ramen för en marknad för olovlig bostadsuthyrning, där bostäderna förmedlas genom arabiskspråkiga sociala nätverk. I avhandlingen förstås denna marknad i termer av assemblage och visar på hur den samskapas i konstellationer och i interaktioner mellan bland annat bostadssökande, kontraktsinnehavare och informella mäklare; kommunikationsverktyg; hyreskontrakt; lagar och regler samt tilldelningssystem såsom bostadsköer.

Utifrån en kritisk ansats analyseras förarbetena till två flyktingplaceringspolitiska lagändringar: ”Bosättningslagen” samt inskränkningen av ”EBO-lagen”. Avhandlingen visar hur kategorierna asylsökande och nyanländas bosättningsmönster problematiseras och hur en ökad styrning av desamma syftar till att inte bara lösa problem direkt kopplade till målgruppernas boende utan också samhällsproblem som segregation, socioekonomiskt ”utsatta områden” och kommunernas kapacitet att erbjuda välfärdstjänster. Analysen visar vidare att skulden för dessa problem förläggs hos individerna (på gruppnivå, som kategori), samtidigt som fokus förflyttas bort från strukturella problem kopplade till byggande och fördelning av bostäder, liksom från kommunernas bostadsförsörjningsansvar för alla dess invånare.

En av avhandlingens bärande idéer är att “flyktingkrisen”, genom att sätta press på det svenska bostadspolitiska systemet, fick dess oförmåga att tillgodose inkomstfattiga hushålls behov av bostad att skarpt framträda. Denna oförmåga försätter dessa hushåll i bostadsprekära situationer där de, med utgångspunkt i forskningsdeltagarnas berättelser, i stor utsträckning får förlita sig på informella eller olovliga marknadspraktiker.

The purpose of this thesis is to highlight young people’s experiences of forced migration along irregular migration routes and to examine how they understand themselves in relation to different contexts in time and space. The participants consist of young people with experience of forced migration and of being categorized as ”ensamkommande barn” (unaccompanied minors) upon arrival in Sweden. Using oral and written sources, the thesis explores what and how they remember.  The theoretical perspectives are connected by movement as an overarching metaphor. Movement refers to the physical movements made by the participants as well as the assumption that movement characterizes the process of remembering. This is connected to oral history theory and method and the exploration of the past as well as the relationship between past and present in everyday lives. The thesis also leans on several theoretical perspectives from cultural memory studies, which highlight the process in which an individual memory is shaped and reshaped depending on social context and over time. In order to explore how the participants remember different places and times, from origin to destination, a systems approach to migrant trajectories has been applied as a heuristic tool.

The analysis shows that there are shared historical contexts despite the fact that the participants make a heterogenous group. During the period of investigation, migration to and within Europe has been characterized by restrictions and control. This means that the participants have travelled via irregular routes, and they have been confronted with strict border controls. When the participants arrived in Sweden, migration policy underwent significant changes that led to consequences for the participants themselves. Furthermore, those labelled ”ensamkommande barn” were at the center of the migration policy debate in the wake of the so called ”refugee crisis” in 2015. An important conclusion in this dissertation is that to a large extent, movements in time and space have led to a development of how the participants understand themselves. In addition to movements over time, shifts in social contexts bring changes to what and how the participants remember. To conclude, this thesis contributes to research on ”ensamkommande barn” as it illuminates the different ways in which the participants understand themselves and experience a sense of belonging. Another contribution is the thesis' approach to historical contextualization and the understanding of the participants as actors in relation to larger historical change.

This thesis studies the relationship between history and nationalism as expressed by the political parties the Sweden Democrats and the Danish People's Party. The study focuses on how the Sweden Democrats and the Danish People's Party convey historical narratives in their party magazines, SD-Kuriren and Dansk Folkeblad, respectively, and in central party documents. The narrative theory being implemented is based primarily on the ideas of Paul Ricœur, Jörn Rüsen and David Carr. More specifically, their ideas about how people use historical narratives to understand and make meaning of their existence. The importance of a story's content resonating with its recipients, that is being able to recognize and decode the intended meaning of the story, is discussed using nationalism theory and a history didactic framework, the latter with a focus on historical culture. 

The results show that the historical narratives deployed by the Sweden Democrats and the Danish People’s Party exist at different levels. On the one hand, there are overarching stories that appear when the main narrative is put together. On the other hand, there are smaller narratives that are both part of and relate to the main narratives in different ways. Four main themes can be read in the historical narratives of the Sweden Democrats and the Danish People's Party. These motifs follow the chronology of the main narratives and form the basis of the disposition of the thesis. They consist, in turn, of origin stories, conquests and defeats, friends and enemies, and welfare stories. 

The Sweden Democrats' and the Danish People's Party's approach to history is both legitimizing and purposeful. Based on a narrative grammar, guided by the nationalist core doctrine, interpretations of the past are filtered to become part of their meaning-making practices. In their historical narratives, key symbols of historical culture are used to point out the importance of acting in the present for the future. Through a set of narrative strategies, they use history to indicate what they believe is wrong in contemporary social development, and how this fault may be corrected.  

Cooperative work differs depending on contexts and tasks, whether co-located, synchronous, or distributed in time and space. New technology allows new opportunities to support cooperation. A central aspect of cooperation is the relation to individual work; when co-located, people enter and exit cooperation seamlessly. This dissertation explores how technology, situation, and context interplay in various forms of cooperation. It addresses two research questions: (1) How do people get engaged in cooperative work? and (2) How can engagement in distributed cooperative work be supported?

The work focuses on ethnographic empirical studies that analyse the interaction between humans and technology across various domains. Workplace studies have been conducted in different fields. Emergency service work, truck driver's work, building maintenance workers, and visitor's technology use at a music festival. The workplace studies in the dissertation imply that field studies are conducted to document and analyse how people use technology and how this use takes place. Common to all studies is the work about activities distributed in time and space.

These research findings inform the development of new perspectives, concepts, and design challenges for distributed collaboration. The dissertation discusses two primary ways to engage in cooperative work are identified: requesting and choosing to engage through shared materials and artefacts support awareness and enable cooperative work. The results identify four factors to facilitate engagement in remote cooperative environments: supporting requests and choices to engage, providing opportunities to use artefacts, promoting shareability, and incorporating awareness technology.

The dissertation contributes new insights into the interplay between technology, situation, and context in cooperation. Providing design insights for distributed collaboration, and the exploration of design concepts and analysis models. The contributions emphasize the dynamic nature of collaboration and the importance of understanding the relationship between individual and cooperative work to support distributed and remote collaboration effectively.

During the last three decades of the 20th century Swedish immigrant policy went through a profound change. In the late 1960s immigrant policy were based on assimilation but during the 1970’s and 1980’s this policy was exchanged to multicultural guidelines. These multicultural guidelines were however abandoned in the late 1990s when integration became a key word in the debate about immigrants.  This thesis investigates how these changes were made possible by a shifting understanding of immigrants in state and local discourse (the last represented by Malmö municipality) by operationalizing Carol Lee Bacchis What’s the problem represented to be analysis. 

Previous research has shown that the social category of immigrants during the first six decades of the 20th century understood immigrants as a threat towards the Swedish race and later the welfare state. From this perspective immigrant policy can be seen as the result of the creation of a problematized immigrant subject, a tendency that is also the case for later decades. The investigation shows that immigrants in the early 1970’s were mainly understood from a class and welfare perspective. During this period immigrants were seen as a threat towards the social cohesion of the welfare state as well as the social democratic ambitions of a raised standard of living for the working class. This understanding led to the development of a multicultural policy where immigrant culture was supported within state and local politics and by structural changes in the education system, aiming to include the category in civic life and improve their living conditions. 

 In the years between 1976 and 1985 the understanding of immigrants however changed. During this period immigrants became increasingly problematized for their lack of employment and a cultural difference. During the end of this period the multicultural policy changed from an emphasis on culture as a resource for social inclusion to that some parts of of a Swedish identity were not subject of choice. Furthermore, this period also lead to increased efforts at the individual level, were the policy aimed to give individual immigrants increased chances at the labor market. 

During the last fifteen years the 20th century immigrant policy became increasingly politicized, and immigrants became understood as radically culturally different from swedes. In this period immigrant culture were constructed as oppressive towards women and outdated when compared to the modern Swedish culture. Furthermore, the notion of immigrants as unemployed from previous decades continued to play an important part and immigrants were also conceived as living segregated. This view resulted in the creation of integration policies aiming to not handle immigrants as a from the general population different group. Instead, immigrants should become integrated in Swedish society through the general welfare with an emphasis that not all parts of a Swedish identity were choose able.

The result of the investigation show that European culture became increasingly normative in the development of Swedish migrant policy, thus excluding European immigrants from the problematized immigrant subject. Thereby the globalization of migration towards Sweden led to a development were immigrant policy shifted focus from class to cultural perspectives. 

Rehabiliteringskoordinator (reko) har tillkommit som en ny, lagstadgad funktion i linje med att göra arbetsåtergång för sjukskrivna ett prioriterat område inom vården. Reko har som uppgift att stödja patienten, samordna den interna organiseringen i sjukskrivningsprocessen samt samverka med externa aktörer; såsom arbetsgivare och Försäkringskassans handläggare. Den förgivettagna metaforen är att rehabkoordinatorn agerar som ”spindeln-i-nätet” för att åstadkomma detta.

Avhandlingen syftar till att studera rehabkoordinatorn i sjukskrivningsprocessen inom ramen för organisations- och professionsstudier. Utifrån syftet har två huvudsakliga frågeställningar formulerats; hur rehabkoordinatorns roll och funktion synliggörs i en vårdprofessionskontext, samt hur rehabkoordinatorn framstår som organisatorisk subjektivitet i förhållande till funktionens uppdrag. Avhandlingens teoretiska referensramar utgår från Michel Foucaults politiska filosofi med governmentality i förgrunden.

Avhandlingens 19 semi-strukturerade intervjuer med rehabkoordinatorer har tillsammans med observationer samt offentliga dokument där rehabkoordinatorns arbetsuppgifter beskrivs, analyserats med tematisk nätverksanalys. I analysen har ett abduktivt förhållningssätt med utgångspunkt i en dispositiv analytisk strategi använts. 

Analysen visar att funktionen är otydlig i den dagliga verksamheten. Rehabkoordinatorn upplever oklarheter i hur uppdraget ska utformas, vilket även uttrycks i förhållande till hur lokal verksamhetsledning och kollegor uppfattar uppdraget. Otydligheten till trots uttalas en vilja att hjälpa och stödja patienten. Därmed skapar otydligheten och den goda viljans produktiva makt i förhållande till hur rehabkoordinatorn väljer att agera i rollen, två röda trådar som går hand i hand och interagerar med varandra.

I styrande dokument framställs att vårdprofessionslogiken med dess intuitiva individcentrering och biopolitisk logik som övergripande legal styrning, enkelt kan sammanföras i en och samma roll vilket ger sken av ett rehabkoordineringens janusansikte som är oproblematiskt. Janusansiktets dubbelnatur kräver emellertid ett tydliggörande. Tydliggörande kommer till stånd genom att rehabkoordinatorn använder olika strategier, t ex genom klädsel och att använda rumslighet på ett sätt som koordinatorn finner lämpligt med utgångspunkt i den personliga tolkningen av hur rollen ska iscensättas. Att utarbeta strategier avseende hur rollen ska agera i förhållande till övriga vårdprofessioner, företrädesvis läkaren, är andra sätt att skapa tydlighet. 

Med utgångspunkt i offentliga dokument emotses ett görande från rehabkoordinatorns sida som överför en förväntad normering till patienten och övriga inom vårdorganisationen på ett sätt som gör att patienten förstår sitt eget bästa och agerar därefter. Rehabkoordinatorn formar i rollen som subjekt hur funktionen kommer att ta sitt uttryck genom följsamhet eller motstånd mot den förväntade normering som råder i styrande dokument. I subjektiveringsprocessen väljer rehabkoordinator som individ med vilket vetande i förgrunden som agerandet utövas och genom detta, hur subjektivitet formas. Andra metaforer än den förgivettagna spindeln-i-nätet ger här en bild av hur rollen formas; till exempel att agera detektiv, ventil, lots, brygga.

Avhandlingen bidrar till förståelse hur statlig övergripande styrning konstituerar självstyrning och formering av organisatoriska subjektiviteter. I det här fallet det formande som rehabkoordinatorn uttrycker genom den subjektivitet som iscensätts för att klargöra otydligheten som kan ses ur två perspektiv, som möjliggörande och som hindrande. För att otydligheten inte ska leda till rolloklarhet behöver en dubbelriktad kommunikation komma till stånd inom vårdorganisationen – med chefer och med kollegor – med utgångspunkt i att tala klarspråk om det kontroversiella i rehabkoordinatoruppdraget där agerandet förväntas styras av det försäkringsmedicinska paradigmet.

The aim of this dissertation was to disclose and critically investigate the social meaning of the children's participation in family law proceedings. The research project was specifically delimited to the world of policy, to the world of professional social work, and first and foremost to the world of the child. Using an  applied  phenomenology,  following  Schiltz  sociologically  grounded phenomenology, the research design includes theoretical as well as qualitative studies. In relation to the world of the child, classical phenomenologists as well as contemporary, critical phenomenologists were guiding in the orientation towards research approach and analysis of the results. The doctoral dissertation is a compilation thesis that consist of four articles, in which three have been published in peer-review journals. The first article aimed at disclosing the meaning of children's participation within the world of professional social work in the situation of family law proceedings. The second article was a theoretical study into the sedimented meaning of children's participation within the world of policy. The third article focused on the possibility of listening to the social world of the child in relation to the conceptualization of children's participation. The fourth article was a qualitative study in which children and young adults' experiences of living through family law proceedings were investigated. The four studies show that the adult conceptualization of children's participation is not properly grounded in how participation as a social phenomenon is experienced within the world of the child. For instance, in relation to family law proceedings, the necessity of assessing children's age and maturity as a sedimented prerequisite to participation is at odds within the world of the child as they are already taking part of and acting on relational matters within the family. The findings suggests that an attunement to the social world of the child as well as acknowledging children's lived participation is important if children's formal rights to participate as well as being protected are to be taken seriously.

Fake news has attracted significant global attention and contestation in recent years. This PhD thesis explores the explosive and oftentimes contradictory rise of fake news and dives into the discursive struggles around journalism, politics, digital media, and liberal democracy that have emerged in its wake. Through a series of interrelated publications – spanning more than five years of research – the thesis examines how and with what consequences journalistic and political actors articulate and dispute the very meaning of fake news. Through a careful and critical mapping of the discursive signification of fake news, the thesis does not only situate the issue in wider political and historical contexts; it also draws out and reflects upon its implications for the future of liberal democracies. 

Deploying detailed empirical investigations based on news content, textual analysis, and qualitative interviews, the thesis sheds light on discursive struggles around fake news within a number of distinct socio-political contexts. It dives into cases from the US and UK, where fake news first rose to prominence in 2016, as well as from Denmark, where fake news has increasingly become a topic of journalistic and political concern. 

Drawing on the ontological and conceptual framework of discourse theory, the thesis demonstrates how fake news has come to function as a floating signifier; it is a deeply political concept mobilised within conflicting hegemonic projects with fundamentally different forms of meaning. Having done so, the thesis goes on to show that fake news has not only become central in debates around lies and falsehoods but also for conflicting visions about what ‘politics,’ ‘journalism,’ and ‘liberal democracy’ fundamentally are and ought to be. Indeed, the core argument levelled in this thesis is that fake news has come to function as a prism through which wider struggles over liberal democracy and human co-habitation have become visible at a time of growing political instability. 

Taken together, the findings offered by the thesis contribute to the field of media and communication studies by addressing a pertinent gap regarding the discursive signification of fake news. Connecting the rise of fake news to structural transformations at the heart of both contemporary media landscapes and liberal democracy, the thesis moves beyond formalistic conceptions of fake news and into the highly conflictual terrain surrounding the concept.

Dental implants are nowadays a standard treatment to replace missing teeth and restore function and aesthetics. However, biological complications associated with implants, e.g., peri-implant infections, are common and jeopardize the success of treatment. The main aim of this thesis was to explore strontium (Sr) as a possible prevention strategy against peri-implant infections, since Sr has been shown to have antibacterial action and also to promote titanium (Ti) implant osseointegration. In this thesis, a systematic appraisal of the literature about the antimicrobial potential of Sr-functionalized Ti surfaces for oral applications was performed, and was followed by a series of in vitro studies assessing the antimicrobial potential of Sr against micro-organisms associated with peri-implantitis.

In Study I, the systematic appraisal of the literature resulted in an initial list of 1081 potentially relevant publications, where from nine publications from in vitro studies met the inclusion criteria. Most of the included studies showed that Sr-functionalized Ti exerted a limited immediate (i.e., 24 h) antimicrobial effect, likely due to a low Sr ion release; a relevant antimicrobial effect and biofilm inhibition potential against Streptococcus aureus was observed at both early and late timepoints, with an adequate Sr ion release.

Study II assessed, in vitro, five different concentrations of soluble Sr(OH)2 (100, 10, 1, 0.1, and 0.01 mM) against 6 different mono-species bacteria (Streptococcusmitis, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Escherichia coli, and Fusobacterium nucleatum) in terms of cell growth, minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC), and biofilm viability. In the agar diffusion test, zones of inhibition were only observed for 0.01, 0.1, and 1 mM of Sr(OH)2 against P. gingivalis. Growth inhibition in planktonic cultures was achieved at 10 mM for all species tested. In the biofilm viability assay, 10 and 100 mM Sr(OH)2 showed potent bactericidal effect against S. mitis, S. epidermidis, A. actinomycetemcomitans, E. coli, and P. gingivalis. It was thus concluded that Sr(OH)2 has antimicrobial properties against bacteria associated with peri-implantitis.

Study III assessed the in vitro early- and late bacteriostatic and bactericidal effect of Sr-functionalized wafers on bacteria associated with peri-implantitis (E. coli,S. aureus, Streptococcus oralis, Actinomyces naeslundii, Parvimonas micra, P.gingivalis and F. nucleatum) as mono-species after 2 and 24 hours, and as multispecies at day 1, 3, and 6. Sr-functionalized wafers, compared to Ti controls, were associated with statistically significant less viable cells in both mono- and multispecies tests. Number of colony forming units (CFUs) within the biofilm were significantly higher in Ti wafers, compared to Sr-functionalized wafers, for S. aureus at all time-points of evaluation and for E. coli at day 1. Gingipain activity was higher in Ti wafers compared to Sr-functionalized ones, and the qPCR showed that P. gingivalis comprised 15% of the total biofilm on Ti wafers at day 6, while it remained below detection levels at Sr-coated wafers.

In Study IV, the impact of Ti surface roughness (turned vs moderately rough) on the antimicrobial effect of Sr on bacterial associated with peri-implantitis (S. oralis, P. micra, A. naeslundii, F. nucleatum, P. gingivalis, S. aureus, and E. coli), grown in different multispecies consortia, was assessed in vitro. Bacterial viability and biofilm formation, and well as, proteolytic activity of P. gingivalis were assessed at day 1, 3, and 6. Sr-functionalized surfaces were associated with statistically significant reduction in number of viable cells compared to nonfunctionalized surface at all times of investigation for all multispecies tested. Higher proteolytic activity of P. gingivalis was found at non-functionalized Ti disks compared to Sr-functionalized ones. Sr-functionalised surfaces were associated with notable growth inhibition of both E. coli and S. aureus, while P. gingivalis remined undetected at all time points of evaluation on all disks. The turned surface had a slightly higher release of Sr ion compared with the moderately rough surface in the first 24 hours, while both surfaces showed a sustained release for up to 15 days.

Overall, the data generated with this series of projects indicate Sr surfaces exerts an antimicrobial potential on bacteria associated with peri-implantitis and it is worthwhile to further explore the potential of Sr-functionalized Ti in the prevention of peri-implant infections.

Swedish sexuality education, mandatory since 1955, is part of general social politics, aiming among others to prevent socio-sexual problems through educating and disciplining young, future citizens. The overall aim is to examine contemporary societal view on sexuality through studies of representatives of schools, authorities and NGO’s negotiating young people's sexuality regulations related to current ideas of socio-sexual problems, and to outline constructions of young people's sexuality through the organisation of sex education. Two studies with ten years in between highlight the contemporary view on youth and sexuality through an analysis of 1) professional views on sexuality education and 2) analysis of documents regarding the new Swedish curriculum, in force since autumn semester 2022. The first study contains of focus group interviews with staff working with young people with intellectual disabilities, previously published 2014, using Theory of Social Representations. The second, newer study, using Critical Discourse Analysis as method and Rubin´s radical theories on sexuality politics as theory, analyses views on sexuality in open access published preparatory works regarding the new curriculum. Young people's sexuality is related to risks, while the idea of pleasure is absent. Young women, young LGBTQ people, and young with intellectual disabilities are made vulnerable and norm breaking, while young men´s sexuality, heterosexuality and able-bodiedness are a not scrutinised norm. Sex education is defined by professionals and experts on elite level, not necessarily linked to scientific knowledge. Equality, pornography, and consent appear as questions that engage. Equality is related to a binary understanding of gender, or a freer view on gender as a prerequisite for equality work to succeed. Pornography is understood as a problem in young men, affecting young women and promoting violence and negative attitudes. Consent is welcomed, but with lacking analyses of how to communicate it.

Artificiell intelligens och i synnerhet Maskininlärning (ML) påverkar i hög grad människors liv genom de kan skapa monetärt värde från data. Denna produktifiering av insamlad data påverkar på många sätt våra liv, från val av partner till att rekommendera nästa produkt att konsumera. ML-baserade system fungerar väl i denna roll eftersom de kan förutsäga människors beteende baserat på genomsnittliga prestandamått, men deras användbarhet är mer begränsad i situationer där det är viktigt med transparens visavi de kunskapsrepresentationer ett enskilt beslut baseras på.

 Målet med detta arbete är att kombinera människors och maskiners styrkor via en tydlig maktrelation där en slutanvändare har kommandot. Denna maktrelation bygger på användning av ML-system som är transparenta med bakomliggande orsaker för ett föreslaget beslut. Artificiella neurala nätverk är ett intressant val av ML-teknik för denna uppgift eftersom de kan bygga interna kunskapsrepresentationer från rå data och därför tränas utan specialiserad ML kunskap. Detta innebär att ett neuralt nätverk kan tränas genom att exponeras för data från en måldomän och i denna process internalisera relevanta kunskapsrepresentationer. Därefter kan nätet presentera kontextuella förslag på beslut baserat på dessa representationer. I icke-statiska situationer behöver det fragment av den verkliga världen som internaliseras i ML-systemet kontextualiseras av en människa för att systemet skall vara användbart och tillförlitligt.

 I detta arbete utforskas det ovan beskrivna området via en övergripande forskningsfråga: Vilka utmaningar och möjligheter kan uppstå när en slutanvändare använder neurala nätverk som stöd för enstaka beslut i ett väldefinierat sammanhang?

 För att besvara forskningsfrågan ovan används metodologin forskning genom design, detta på grund av att den valda metodologin matchar öppenheten i forskningsfrågan. Genom sex designexperiment utforskas utmaningar och möjligheter i situationer där enskilda kontextuella beslut är viktiga. De initiala designexperimenten fokuserar främst på möjligheter i situationer där neurala nätverk presterar i paritet med människors kognitiva förmågor och de senare experimenten utforskar utmaningar i situationer där neurala nätverk överträffar människans kognitiva förmågor.  Den andra delen fokuserar främst på metoder som syftar till att förklara beslut föreslagna av det neurala nätverket.

 Detta arbete bidrar till existerande kunskap på tre sätt: (1) utforskande av lärande relaterat till neurala nätverk med målet att presentera en terminologi användbar för kontextuellt beslutsfattande understött av ML-system, den framtagna terminologin inkluderar generativa begrepp som: sann-i-relation-till-domänen, koncept, utanför-distributionen och generalisering, (2) ett antal designriktlinjer, (3) behovet av att justera interna kunskapsrepresentationer i neurala nätverk så att de överensstämmer med koncept vilket skulle kunna medföra att neurala nätverk kan producera förklaringsbara beslut. Jag föreslår även att en framkomlig forskningsstrategi är att träna neurala nätverk med utgångspunkt från grundläggande koncept, som former och färger. Denna strategi innebär att nätverken kan generalisera utifrån dessa generella koncept i olika domäner. Den föreslagna forskningsriktning syftar till att producera mer komplexa förklaringar från neurala nätverk baserat på grundläggande generaliserbara koncept.

Gingival recession refers to the apical displacement of the gingival margin from the cemento-enamel junction, resulting in exposure of the root of the tooth. Recessions can be localized, involving a single surface and tooth or may involve more tooth surfaces and/or teeth. Exposure of the root surface often causes a esthetic concerns, dentin hypersensitivity and increased susceptibility to root caries. Gingival recessions have been found to be more frequent in mandibular than maxillary teeth, and on buccal than lingual surfaces, especially within creasing age and have been found in persons with both good and poor oral hygiene.

Several factors are associated with the etiology of gingival recessions; these are often categorized in predisposing and causative factors. A possible etiological factor for gingival recession is orthodontic tooth movement. The precise mechanism, nevertheless, by which orthodontic treatment influences the occurrence of recessions remains unclear, since bone dehiscence development during orthodontic treatment, per se, does not always lead to recession. It has been, therefore, assumed that the presence of a bone dehiscence before the beginning of orthodontic therapy is a prerequisite for the development of gingival recession. The retrospective and uncontrolled design of the available studies up to date, have not yet allowed the elucidation of the treatment- or patient- related risk factors for the development of gingival recession.

The overall aims of this thesis were:

• to determine whether or not orthodontic treatment is associated with the development of gingival recession and to quantify its magnitude and significance.

• to document possible periodontal and systemic factors that are linked with gingival recession before, during or after orthodontic therapy.

This thesis is based on 6 studies:

•  Paper I was designed as a cross-sectional study to determine accuracy and reproducibility  of four different methods for assessing gingival thickness.

• Paper II comprised an ex-vivo study assessing how well transgingival probing represents the true value of soft tissue thickness. The aim of this study was to assess differences and variation in gingival thickness when measured with transgingival probing or scanned with an intraoral device in porcine cadavers.

• Paper III evaluated in a prospective manner if bone remodeling can be followed through the bone turnover markers (BTMs) in orthodontic patients. Aim was to record the fluctuation of an osteoclastic and an osteoblastic BTM [C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) and N-terminal pro-peptide of type I pro-collagen (PINP), respectively] in both the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and the serum of orthodontic patients before and after the initial application of orthodontic forces.

• Paper IV assessed in a prospective process the impact of fixed orthodontic appliances on blood Count and High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein Levels. Aim was to elucidate the magnitude of alterations in systemic blood counts in healthy individuals and identify possible inflammation status during the first period after fixed orthodontic appliance placement.

• Paper V was a prospective controlled study aimed to assess whether incisor inclination change during orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances affects gingival thickness and the width of keratinized gingiva at mandibular incisors, compared with an untreated group of participants.

• Paper VI was a prospective controlled study to assess whether orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances, compared to no treatment, has an effect on the development of gingival recession up to one year after treatment.

The following conclusions were drawn:

Paper I

• The results demonstrated the differences between the tested methods (a.transgingival probing with a standard periodontal probe, b. transgingival probing with a stainless-steel acupuncture needle, c. ultrasound and d. color-coded periodontal probe), as far as accuracy and reproducibility were concerned.

• Based on the reproducibility, the transgingival probing with the periodontal probe as well as the ultrasound determination seem to present an adequate choice for everyday practice.

Paper II

• Transgingival probing with a standard metal periodontal probe for assessing gingival thickness is a reliable method, with values very close to the true gingival thickness, and it can thus be considered as the clinical gold standard.

Paper III

• This was the first time PINP and CTX have been evaluated in the GCF and serum of orthodontic patients with fixed appliances.

• No statistically significant alterations of CTX and PINP levels in the GCF and the serum of patients were recorded over time during the initial stages of orthodontic treatment.

Paper IV

• Orthodontic fixed appliances led to a limited and transient change in WBC and Hb levels during the first days after bracket placement.

• The fluctuation of hs-CRP levels was not significant, demonstrating a lack of association between systemic inflammation and orthodontic treatment.

Paper V

• Mandibular incisor proclination during orthodontic treatment does not appear to significantly alter gingival thickness and width of keratinized gingiva, but orthodontic treatment, overall, leads to reduction of the width of keratinized gingiva.

• Whether this limited reduction of width of keratinized gingiva during orthodontic therapy has an impact on the development of gingival recessions, especially on the long-term, still remains to be elucidated

Paper VI

• Evolution of recessions varied during orthodontic treatment: in some patients recession developed over time, but in several cases orthodontic treatment resulted in a reduction in the number of gingival recessions. The most affected teeth were the canines and the first premolars.

• Orthodontic therapy exerted a negative impact on the development of gingival recession at 1-year posttreatment. The adjusted incidence rate was 67% higher for the intervention group versus the control; however, the severity was limited since most recessions were up to 1mm.

• A long-term follow-up (5 years or more) after orthodontic treatment is necessary to provide data on whether orthodontic treatment is a major risk factor for the development of gingival recession.

Key Conclusions and Clinical Implications

• Transgingival probing with the periodontal probe as well as the ultrasound determination present an adequate choice for gingival thickness evaluation.

• No statistically significant alterations of CTX and PINP levels in the gingival crevicular fluid and the blood serum of patients were recorded over time during the initial stages of orthodontic treatment. Moreover, a lack of association between systemic inflammation and orthodontic treatment during the first days after bracket placement was demonstrated.

• Mandibular incisor proclination during orthodontic treatment does not appear to significantly alter gingival thickness and width of keratinized gingiva, but orthodontic treatment, overall, may lead to reduction of the width of keratinized gingiva.

• Evolution of recessions varied during orthodontic treatment: in some patients recessions developed over time, but in several cases orthodontic treatment resulted in a reduction in the number of gingival recessions. The most affected teeth were the canines and the first premolars.

• Orthodontic therapy exerted a negative impact on the development of gingival recession at 1-year post treatment. The adjusted incidence rate was 67% higher for the intervention group versus the control; however, the severity was limited, since most recessions were up to 1mm.

• A detailed 3D analysis of the movement of the involved teeth presenting recession after orthodontic movement could provide further insights on the effect of orthodontic tooth movement on the development of gingival recession.

• A long-term evaluation will show whether orthodontic treatment is a major factor for the development of gingival recession.

Consisting of four scientific papers and a comprehensive overview, this thesis concerns governance in and of social work. More specifically, it studies governing of knowledge in social service with children and youth. Through the growing focus on evidence-based social work since 2000, state governing of knowledge has become an increasingly established concept. In general terms, it refers to the national level’s efforts to govern based on knowledge in order to solve social services’ ”knowledge problems”. However, there are more aspects to state governing of knowledge. Thus, this thesis focuses on the doing of such governance – a praxis that involves actors at national, regional and municipal levels. Here, regional development leaders in social service with children and youth are one of the central actors; consequently, they constitute the empirical focus of the thesis when analysing the doing of governing of knowledge. 

The aim of this study is to describe and analyse how state governing of knowledge is conducted by examining how development leaders perceive and concretise the task of governing of knowledge in social service’s childcare. The overall questions are as follows: 1. How do regional development leaders in social service with children and youth perceive and interpret the EBP knowledge model in relation to their task? 2. How do regional development leaders act when they govern with knowledge within social service? 3. What characterizes the professional practice of regional development leaders, and how can we understand it in the context of governance?

Data have been collected through individual interviews and focus group interviews with 28 regional development leaders. In addition, the empirical material includes a field study with participant observations during network meetings and a questionnaire survey with 29 development leaders. The data have been analysed from three theoretical perspectives: governance as floating signifier, governance as joint doing, and governance as a relational exercise of power. The first perspective, governance as floating signifier, implies that governance changes over time, both in terms of how it can be understood and how it is applied. The second perspective, governance as joint doing, refers to governance as it takes place in and through interaction between actors involved in governance. Here, we can note a mutual influence between those who govern and those who are being governed. The third perspective focuses on power as a central element of governance and how it is constructed in a relational interaction between actors who are part of a common context of governance.

The analysis shows that the ambiguity that surrounds state governing of knowledge creates a discretion for interpretation and action. This gives development leaders the opportunity to saturate their work with their own content, depending on the purpose and context, which is very much about developing and organising social work in social services. Working with development, change and innovation is thus of importance in the governing of knowledge of social service with children and youth. In carrying out their tasks, development leaders combine hierarchical top-down management with horizontal, relational management. This becomes evident in the development leaders’ choice of governance practices, which involves networking with managers in senior positions who have a mandate to make decisions. The interaction between development leaders and managers is characterised by mutual influence, which results in development leaders sacrificing certain areas of their mission in favour of activities that managers consider important to implement. Such governance praxis is likely to have implications for the outcomes of governing of knowledge. The establishment of the development leader as an actor in the governing of social work can be understood as a reaction to changing institutional conditions for the management and organisation of the public sector. The work of development leaders is characterised by a hybridised professional practice: they integrate seemingly incompatible logics and thus have to manage different tensions in a professional role, which is probably a prerequisite for navigating complex governing tasks. 

Although artistic augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) experiences have been discussed in multiple scholarly fields, when it comes to interaction design, comprehensive accounts of actual design practices are rare. To expand our knowledge of design practices, this PhD dissertation brings together choreography and interaction design, approaching MR as site-specific performance. More specifically, choreography as an expanded practice is used to encourage discussions about the creation of MR experiences in public spaces. The research project involved practice-based research and the creation of three public site-specific MR walks in Göteborg and Mölndal, realised in collaboration with an artistic team and stakeholders from the art, cultural heritage and information technology sectors. The dissertation shows that a choreographic approach provides concrete ways for crafting relations between time, space, bodies and imagination in AR/MR experiences, demonstrating that technology is imbued with site-specific power relations, ethics and aesthetics. These contributions are both practice-oriented and theoretical. They include an expansion of our knowledge of embodied interaction and its relevance to public space, an articulation of choreography as a broad practice that can be applied to technological design and a distinct set of composition practices for site-specific AR/MR experiences. Together, these contributions result in strategies and critical reflection on how AR/MR experiences may be used to reactivate public spaces and their political significance in society through critical, embodied and artistic techniques.

Loss of tooth structure or loss of the tooth may affect masticatory function, phonetics, a person´s appearance, and might ultimately impair quality of life. Fixed prosthetic rehabilitation in the form of either fixed dental prosthesis (FDP)or single crown (SC) is a reliable treatment alternative to restore lost functions. Tooth-supported fixed prosthetic restorations (FDPs, SCs) are influenced by multiple combined general and local factors that may affect the risk of complication and failure. Recognizing risk factors is important in treatment planning, and will help the clinician optimize treatment outcomes. This will also be beneficial for both the patient and society from a cost-effective aspect, as a reduction in complications and failures reduces costs. Several factors have been suggested to impact the survival and failure rates of FDPs and SCs, but there is still limited evidence concerning the clinical outcomes of FDPs and SCs when subjected to a combination of multiple factors in a clinical setting. The aim of the present thesis was to evaluate whether the survival and failure rates of full-coverage tooth-supported fixed prosthetic restorations (FDPs, SC) are influenced by general and/or local factors. This thesis is based on a systematic review (Paper I) and three retrospective studies (Papers II, III, and IV). In Study I, PubMed, Web of Science and ScienceDirect databases were searched and manual searches were conducted to identify clinical human studies reporting on full-coverage tooth-supported FDPs and SCs. Cumulative survival rate (CSR) was calculated over the maximal period of follow-up reported, in a life-table survival analysis. Seventeen studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The highest 5-year survival rate was observed for all-ceramic and metal–ceramic SCs on vital teeth 97.8% (95%CI [97.1– 98.5%]), and all-ceramic SCs on non-vital teeth with fiber post 99.1% (95% CI [97.7– 100.4%]). Metal–ceramic SCs on vital teeth 97.5% (95% CI[96.8–98.3%]) showed a statistically significant higher estimated 5-year survival rate compared to metal–ceramic SCs with cast metal post 94.5% (95% CI [93.3–95.8%], p <0.001) and fiber post 95.1% (95% CI [93.4–96.6%], p <0.007), respectively. For FDPs, the 5-year survival rate was higher for metal–ceramic FDPs on vital abutments 96.9% (95% CI [95.5–98.4%]), compared to FDPs retained by non-vital abutment(s) with cast metal posts 94.3% (95% CI [89.3–99.3%]). The difference was not statistically significant. Tooth vitality is suggested to contribute positively to the survival of SCs. The results are, however, limited by the small number of studies and the presence of uncontrolled cofounding clinical variables. In the retrospective studies II, III, and IV, dental records archives and the digital journals of all patients at the Faculty of Odontology, Malmö University, Sweden were reviewed to identify patients rehabilitated with full-coverage toothsupported FDPs and SCs. Cox regression was used to evaluate the associations between clinical covariates and prosthesis failure. The CSR was similar for FDPs and SCs after 5 years of function. CSR was higher for SCs compared to FDPs after 10, 15, and 20 years of function. Smoking, type of prosthesis material, and bruxism significantly influenced the survival of FDPs, whereas abutment vitality, position of the non-vital abutment, or prosthesis length did not show any significant influence on the occurrence of FDP failure. The survival of SC was influenced by anterior placement, non-vital abutments, and bruxism, while the patient’s age and sex, the location of the crowns in relation to the jaws, the type of tooth, the presence of post and core, and the type of crown material, treatment providers, or smoking did not show significant effects on the survival of SC.In summary, within the limitations of the review and retrospective studies, bruxism, smoking, and type of prosthesis material are suggested to contribute toFDP failure. Anterior placement, non-vital abutments, and bruxism are factors increasing the rate of SC failure.

The overarching aims of this thesis were to study oral health-related salutogenic factors among older people and explore dental professionals’ perceptions of their role in the practice of oral health promotion.Study I was an integrative review describing salutogenic factors reportedly associated with oral health and oral health-related quality of life in older people. A framework for identifying salutogenic factors, combining two theories of health, was developed. 58 papers were included in the review and 77 salutogenic factors were identified. However, there is a lack of studies with specific reference to salutogenic factors among older people.

Study II was a cross-sectional study based on data for patients 60 years or older derived from a previous population-based epidemiological study. Several significant associations between outcome variables and salutogenic factors were identified. Of those, 13 previously unreported salutogenic factors could be added to the framework developed in Study I.

Studies III and IV were qualitative interview studies using in-depth interviewsfor data collection and qualitative content analysis methodology for data analysis.

Study III focused on exploring salutogenic factors related to oral health in twelve orally healthy patients 75 years or older. The findings highlighted the importance of patients’ internal resources, dental professionals, family, and society in supporting and reinforcing lifelong oral health.

Study IV focused on exploring dental professionals’ perceptions of their role in the practice of oral health promotion and included eleven dentists and dental hygienists. The participants perceived promotion of oral health to be an important aspect of their professional role. They aspired to patient participation in the decision-making process and educational activities, as well as practicing and evaluating skills development.

In conclusion, there is a need for consistency in definition of outcomes measures and hypothesis-driven research within salutogenic research in oral health field. The large number of salutogenic factors found supporting oral health among older people indicates the complexity of salutogenesis and the need for robust analyzing tools. Combining two theories of health was useful for exploring salutogenic factors related to oral health and for providing a plain overview of areas lacking knowledge, which in turn can facilitate the generation of hypotheses and therefore relevant salutogenic research.This combination could contribute to a more balanced image of factors influencing oral health, including dental professionals’ roles, and help identify critical next steps in determining priorities and allocating resources promoting good oral health in individuals and populations. Moreover, oral health-related salutogenic factors identified in the qualitative studies; i.e., categories, merit further exploration in quantitative research.

Purpose: This dissertation aims to study how different artefacts used to assess students’ knowledge are perceived by students and teachers. A particular focus is directed towards assessment from a special educational perspective. Two research questions were posed: 1. What are students’ perceptions and experiences of different assessment practices in the classroom? 2. What are teachers' perceptions and experiences of different assessment practices in the classroom?

Sub-studies: The dissertation provides a qualitative synthesis of 5 studies. Study I is a systematic research review with the aim to enhance knowledge regarding low-achieving students’ assessment experiences. Study II, directed at classroom assessment to provide information on how primary school students in Grades 2 and 5 experience classroom assessment in Swedish. Study III A aimed to contribute knowledge about teachers' perceptions of an external assessment assignment. This was, without deepening the alignment between assessment results and teaching, which Study III B aimed to focus on. Study III B is a reanalysis of part of Study III A. In Study IV, the content’s context was communication in mathematics teaching. The results revealed teachers'assessment expressions.

Theory: The theoretical starting point is sociocultural theory. The choice is based on Gipps who highlights the relationship between teaching, learning and assessment, where assessment is perceived to take place in a social context. To understand the different assessment practices that emerge in the thesis, three categories of assessment: inherent, discursive, and documentary, are used. Mediation is used as an analytical tool.

Method: The methodological approach is an interpretive perspective. All five sub-studies are qualitative. The dissertation provides a qualitative synthesis.

Results: The results reveal a difference in the perceptions and experiences about documented assessment attributed to whether, and what consequences a low score may mean for students and teachers. Discursive assessment emerges as part of teaching. Inherent assessment does not really appear in any of the substudies.

Conclusion: It is not the design of the assessment that matters for students'experience, but its contextualisation, how the meaning is mediated by the teachers rather than the assessment design. Students with special educational needs are more concerned about assessment.

Limitation: This thesis can only describe the talk of assessment but does not study the assessment itself.

The aim of the dissertation is to examine how teachers in preschool class and the first two levels of Swedish school implement discourses in multilingual pupils' language and knowledge development in their mathematics teaching after receiving continuing professional development. The study is based on the thory of mediated discourse analysis and its methodology, nexus analysis (see Scollon & Scollon 2004), which reveals how discourses are translated into action based on three collaborating forces: interaction order, discourses in place, and the historical body. The analysis of the interaction order has been carried out using IR analysis (see Linell & Gustavsson 1987). The discourses in place and the teachers' historical bodies have been analysed using a model of scaffolding strategies (see Hammond & Gibbons 2005) and have been restricted to pupils' need for support in their development in the language og isntruction and to use linguistic and cultural diversity as a learning resource. The material consists of three teachers' final examination assignments in the continuing education, self-recorded lessons in mathematics and follow-up collegial reflection conversations. Also analysed is a questionnaire that the teachers completed before the continuing education started.

The results show that all three teachers support pupils to develop content knowledge in the language of instruction. However, none of the teachers supports the pupils in using linguuistic and cultural diversity as a learning resource. Their teaching is in line with the attitude they showed in the questionnaire responses before the continuing education. The professional development nevertheless seems to have affected the teachers. The collegial discussions show not only that teachers are reinforced in their view of how multingual pupils can be suported in their development of content knowledge in the language of instruction, but also that they have changed their views of how pupils' linguistic and cultural diversity can be utilized as learning resources. With the support of continuing education, all three have plans to test methods that take advantage of pupils' linguistic and cultural diversity in teaching.

Keywords: continuing professional development of teachers, multilingual pupils' language and content development, mediated discourse analysis, scaffolding strategies.

Den här avhandlingen analyserar hyresmarknaden i Rosengård och Malmö. Den visar hur lägenhetsrenoveringar i Herrgården leder till högre hyror. Studien finner också att försäljning av kommunens bostäder och stadsutveckling i Törnrosen och Örtagården motiveras av att kommunen anser att ”marknaden” behöver vitaliseras där. Avhandlingen visar hur hyresgäster upplever oro och brist på information i samband med renovering, privatisering och stadsförnyelse. Sammantaget menar avhandlingen att marknadslogiker har försvagat Sveriges bostadssystem, vilket har lett till en ökad ojämlikhet.

Sialic acid (SA) plays a crucial role in many biological processes. Cell surface SA expression is usually analyzed with antibodies or lectins; however, they are costly and with poor stability. We have used a molecular imprinting technique to synthesize an alternative SA receptor – SA molecularly imprinted polymers(SA-MIPs) with an embedded fluorophore for fluorescent detection of theSA-MIPs. The binding behavior and specificity of SA-MIPs were verified by using lectins and SA conjugates on cancer cell lines, showing that SA-MIPs can be used as an effective tool for SA expression analysis of cancer cells. Digital holographic cytometry (DHC) is a non-phototoxic quantitative phase imaging technique that facilitates the monitoring of living cells over time. We have demonstrated the potential of DHC by mapping cellular parameters, such as cell number, area, thickness, and volume. In addition, cellular parameters possibly depending on sialylation, were evaluated using DHC. Furthermore, the uptake over time of SA-MIPs by macrophages was investigated for any inflammatory and/or cytotoxic responses when administered to phagocytosing cells. Our results indicate that SA-MIPs caused low induction and sparse secretion of inflammatory cytokines, and that reduced cell proliferation was not due to cytotoxicity, but to attenuated cell cycles. These results suggest that SA-MIPs will contribute to the further understanding of cancer cell behavior and can be an asset for in vivo studies.

Edentulism is a debilitating condition which may negatively affect quality of life, particularly in relation to nutritional and social health, speech, and poor facial appearance. Prosthetic options available range from conventional complete dentures to implant-supported overdentures (ISODs) and implant-supported full arch fixed partial dentures (ISFAFDPs). The choice of treatment is connected to the patient's general health, oral status, preferences and financial means. From the point of view of the treatment provider, there is a lack of evidence to support choice of treatment, as information from randomised clinical trials is sparse. This is particularly true when it comes to cost analysis and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). There is consensus today that an implant-supported overdenture is a valid treatment option for the edentulous mandible, but the same recommendation cannot be made for maxillary overdentures due to a lack of evidence.

The present study investigates implant-supported maxillary overdentures regarding implant and prosthesis survival, costs and PROMs in comparison to fixed implant-supported prostheses.

The thesis comprises four studies.Study I analysed implant and prosthesis failure rates with implant-supported maxillary overdentures in a systematic review. The cumulative survival rate (CSR) for the implants and the prostheses was 70.4% and 79.8%, respectively. The main finding was that patients with few implants presented higher prosthesis failure rates than patients with more implants per prosthesis.Of the most commonly used attachment systems, the ball/O-ring and the Ceka were the ones with the highest rates of patients with at least one implant failure. Most of the failures happened within the first year after installation for both implants (52.1%) and prostheses (41.8%).Study II, a retrospective analysis, compared the clinical outcomes of implantsupported overdentures (ISODs) with either bar-clip or ball attachments. The results showed that all ISOD failures resulted from loss of implants. The bar-clip system resulted in more complications than the ball attachment system, suggesting that ISODs with the bar-clip system may necessitate a greater number of appointments and chair time for adjustments, thus increasing the maintenance costs for the patient.Studies III and IV were based on a prospective clinical trial comparing different implant-supported prosthetic rehabilitations for the edentulous maxilla: implantsupported full-arch fixed partial dentures on 4 or 6 implants (ISFAFDP 4 orISFAFDP 6) versus maxillary overdentures on 2 implants.Study III is a comparative cost analysis, the results of which showed that all implants and restorations were in function at follow-up after the first year, i.e., the survival rate was 100%. Initial costs, i.e., cost of prostheses at delivery, were higher for ISFAFDP 6 and ISFAFDP 4 due to the higher number of implants and higher cost of materials and fees. There were no statistically significant differences in post-treatment costs between the groups.In study IV, patient-reported outcomes regarding aesthetics and function were compared. The results showed that all patients, irrespective of group, showed improved patient-reported outcomes from before treatment to the one-year follow-up. There were no significant differences between groups regarding functional status of the masticatory system (Jaw Functional Limitation Scale -JFLS parameters) or how patients perceive their dental and Orofacial Aesthetic Scale (OAS), and only minor differences between the two groups with fixed restorations regarding patients’ perception of the social impact of oral disorders on their well-being (Oral Health Impact Profile - OHIP).

An important issue in teaching and research is how newly arrived students best can develop their linguistic resources in learning. The overall aim of the dissertation is to contribute with in-depth knowledge of the context for newly arrived primary school students' digital meaning-making in Swedish as a second language (SSL) when the subject is studied in parallel with Swedish. The context includes the orchestration and content of the teaching, resources for meaning-making, reading and writing processes, and texts; all aspects are essential for the students' scope for meaning-making. This dissertation contains four articles, each aiming to answer the over-arching research questions. I have chosen to divide the context of newly arrived primary school students' digital meaning-making into three levels: conceptual, didactic, and production level. The levels are three different layers rather than a hierarchical system; the levels interact with each other and can move upwards or downwards in the system. 

The first level, which I chose to call conceptual, concerns teachers' experiences teaching newly arrived students with digital technology in Swedish. Through fieldwork and interviews, I study how teachers manage linguistic complexity involving increasingly digitized teaching. I investigate how teachers' reason whether digital technology can support or hinder learning Swedish as a second language. Here, I focus on the teachers' experiences and perceptions of using technology to help newly arrived students' learning. 

The second level-the didactic level -focuses on teaching with digital tools and how digital technology affects the organization of teaching in the classroom. How linguistic and spatial boundaries are challenged and handled in teaching with digital technology is studied through observations of teaching. I explore how teachers' teaching orchestration contributes to newly arrived students' opportunities for digital meaning-making, how teachers scaffold newly arrived pupils' digital text activities, and how the teachers use the students: multilingual resources. 

The third level, the production level, focuses the context surrounding students' text creation and agency in the writing process. In the dissertation, the production level is studied via written text activities, as part of students' meaning-making. I have observed teachers' writing instructions and analysed student texts to explore how newly arrived students create meaning, communicate, and express thehemselves with digital technology and how they can use their multilingual potential in digital writing within different text types.  types. 

This thesis takes its point of departure in sociocultural perspectives that are an overarching term for several closely related human learning (Vygotsky, 1978). By studying how people use tools or tools to understand, act and interact in the outside world and how people adopt, or appropriate, the mediating tools, it is possible to approach how people learn (Salji:i, 2020). Language is a mediating tool, a dynamic and constantly evolving sign system that interacts with other forms of expression (Saljo, 2020). 

The thesis also has a multimodal perspective (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006; Selander, 2017). Multimodality focuses on the different symbols people use to communicate with each other and express themselves (Kress, 2009). Different modalities can give room for multilingual ways of expression. In the thesis, I study how students use modalities in digital meaning-making processes and how students and teachers interpret and get involved in meaning-making. In analyzing students' digital meaning- making and their digital compositions, it is essential to notice how different modalities can contribute to how students use their multilingual palette.

The overall methodological approach in the thesis is an ethnographic case study. I chose the case study approach to capture the complexity and activities of a school subject (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2011, p. 128). Inspired by Yin (2009), I intended to create broad empirical material to understand and analyze the context of newly arrived primary school students' digital meaning-making in SSL. Levy and Moore (2018) argue for qualitative methods to investigate how language teaching uses technology. Through qualitative research, learning processes can be studied moment by moment via the alternating use of an outside and an inside perspective.  

The thesis's most important results are that teachers had an inclusion focus on digital technology, where newly arrived students, together with teachers and other classmates, explored digital meaning-making through multilingualism and translanguaging. However, multilingual components were nothing the newly arrived students could build on in digitally mediated narrative and retelling texts.

One of the main contributions of the thesis is how it empirically visualized the context for newly arrived primary school students as well as opportunities and limitations in digital text activities in the Swedish subject. The study results contribute to developing teaching with a multilingual perspective regarding how technology is used, the orchestration of educati9n, and how students are scaffolded. 

När en tandläkare ska besluta om vilken behandling som är lämpligast för en patient finns det många källor till osäkerhet. För att hantera denna osäkerhet finns det olika strategier. Några möjliga strategier är att försöka minska osäkerheten eller att acceptera den och lära sig att fatta beslut trots att man känner sig osäker. 

Det är osäkert vilken behandling som är mest effektiv för unga patienter där ett kariesangrepp har gjort att tandpulpan har blivit blottad. Antingen kan man göra en fyllning direkt på den blottade tandpulpan så att den ges möjlighet att läka, en så kallad pulpaöverkappning, eller så kan man avlägsna pulpan och rotfylla tanden. Det finns för- och nackdelar med båda behandlingarna. Studier har visat att nästan hälften av alla rotfyllningar på barn och ungdomar är av tekniskt dålig kvalitet och att många tänder uppvisar inflammation vid rotspetsen. För att minska osäkerheten och jämföra de båda behandlingarna studerades publicerad relevant litteratur om de båda behandlingarna i en systematisk litteraturöversikt. Resultaten från studierna användes sedan i en hälsoekonomisk modell som visade att det var kostnadseffektivt med pulpaöverkappning jämfört med att avlägsna pulpan och rotfylla tanden. 

Trots att vissa former av osäkerhet går att minska så kommer tandläkare alltid behöva ha förmågan att kunna fatta beslut trots att man inte är säker. För att hjälpa tandläkarstudenter att känna trygghet med att ta beslut trots osäkerhet utvecklades och testades en reflektionsövning på en grupp tandläkarstudenter som gick sitt sista år på tandläkarutbildningen. Övningen bestod av skriftliga reflektioner om ett fall med en rotfylld tand där studenterna skulle bedöma risken för framtida akutisering av en kvarstående infektion. Med en upprepad enkät undersöktes om reflektionsövningen kunde påverka hur osäkra och hur bekväma studenterna kände sig. Innehållet i de skriftliga reflektionerna analyserades sedan med kvalitativ metod.

Slutsatserna är att: 

Det saknas studier om rotfyllning efter att tandpulpan blivit blottad på grund av karies på barn och ungdomar. 

För unga patienter med en permanent tand med blottad tandpulpa på grund av karies är pulpaöverkappning kostnadseffektivt jämfört med avlägsnande av pulpan och efterföljande rotfyllning.

De flesta tandläkarstudenter som deltog i reflektionsövningen kände sig inte säkra på riskbedömningen av rotfyllda tänder men kände sig samtidigt säkra på sin förmåga att hantera patientfallet och bekväma med att de gjorde det bästa för patienten. Reflektionsövningen påverkade hur studenterna svarade på hur osäkra de trodde att en expert skulle vara och på hur säkra de var på sin egen förmåga. 

Studenterna trodde att klinisk erfarenhet leder till säkerhet även i fall där det saknas vetenskapliga bevis. Därför är det viktigt att de erfarna tandläkare som undervisar studenter visar att även en expert kan vara osäker.

This thesis explores the role of history in popular culture with a particular focus on the Swedish reggae scene. It examines how cultural meaning applied to music bears strong connections to historical representations, and how individuals understand, communicate, and reproduce selective notions of the past in relationship to popular music. History is viewed as an essential cultural component in this thesis, a component equipped with the ability to articulate political resistance, and express a sense of identity and belonging. The overall purpose is to examine how history is constructed, represented and used in the Swedish reggae scene, and how notions of origin and authenticity are expressed. The empirical chapters examine how different representations of the past in Swedish reggae relates to notions of origin, place and authenticity. These representations are constructed through social interactions, but also through interaction with texts, objects, and cultural practices.

As the thesis shows, different representations of pasts and notions of origins exists in Swedish reggae, connecting to various geographical, cultural, and historical contexts. The hybridization of reggae becomes an important factor that contributes to making Swedish reggae something special and unique. In the Swedish reggae scene, which is predominatly white, the hybridization can be understood as an attempt to free oneself from aspects of reggae associated with Black experiences of white oppression. The use of local, regional, and national cultural expressions and representations of the past creates a distance to the Jamaican reggae traditions, and the historical narratives of slavery, colonialism and racial discrimination that reinforces the Black identification in Jamaican reggae. Instead, by relating to Swedish historical milieus, traditions and events, a closer and more relatable understanding of reggae is created. However, the thesis also shows that not all actors who consume and produce reggae in Sweden identify with the Swedish hybrid version. In such cases, its typical Swedishness is seen as an undesirable departure from the history and traditions of Jamaican reggae. Jamaican reggae is then perceived as a cultural heritage that should be preserved and respected in its original form - not in a copied or remodelled version.

Every organisation, cooperation, project or social movement is quintessentially a cluster of alignments between people, places and things. Through these alignments, networks are made, and through these networks action can be made possible or be constricted. These socio-material alignments, clusters and/or networks are understood within this thesis as infrastructures, and this thesis is an inquiry into how to mobilise infrastructures. Mobilising socio-material infrastructures over time is what I refer to as infrastructuring.

Situated within the discipline of participatory design and the theoretical traditions of science and technology studies and feminist technoscience, this thesis investigates the issue of agency within the infrastructuring processes. The thesis departs from the notion that all agency is relational and made through relations. These relations may be material, power or affective. This concept poses a political imperative to those infrastructuring practitioners—the individuals who labour to create new alignments and move the infrastructure forward—to consider the marginalised voices within the infrastructure. The labour performed to do this is not, the thesis argues, a prestigious, artisan work but rather a slow, caring and repetitive maintenance labour. Informed by the theories of Hannah Arendt, this thesis differentiates between this kind of labour and work. Arendt showed work, labour and action as three interictally intertwined yet distinct notions that define ways of being in the world—ways of acting politically. The th- ree notions reinforce and complement each other; however, this thesis places particular emphasis on labour. Labour is often made invisible, feminised and undervalued, and this thesis investigates labour within the infrastructuring processes and suggests methods to illuminate and support it.

The thesis draws upon three case studies located in Malmö and Lund, Sweden. All three projects were situated within public se- ctor work and within projects that emphasised citizen engagement and dialogue. The case studies have the commonality of infrastructuring: they are present both as a subject of study and as a method for both participants and researchers. Methodologically, the Ph.D. project has been conducted through practice-based, participatory, programmatic design research, which draws together the case studies into an enquiry. Finally, this thesis proposes three ‘programmatic answers’ that address the issue of agency within the infrastructuring processes.

The first programmatic answer, feral infrastructures, re-formulates the initial worldview of the programme and articulates infra- structures as messy and unyielding to the organisers’ attempts to cate- gorise them. The boundaries of the infrastructures stretch way beyond the socio-material borders of a defined project or organisation. The thesis argues that this poses an imperative to the infrastructuring prac- titioner to become sensitised to her terrain and to develop a reflexive praxis to interact with it.

The second programmatic answer, affective infrastructuring, recognises affect as a matter of concern within the infrastructuring labour. Emotional labour and affective economies are raised here as factors that can make or break collaborative doings. This is discussed in an argument for ethics-of-care.

The third and final programmatic answer, collaborative anecdotalization, is a proposed method for interacting with the messy, af- fective terrain of infrastructures. Anecdotalization is presented here as a reciprocal practice beyond mere descriptions: holding within it the ability of defining social realities, re-telling and challenging them and furthering and re-aligning them. The notion of collaborative anecdo- talization suggests that no one actor can hold a complete overview of an infrastructure, and without collaborative descriptions, it is impos- sible to identify, understand and create those alignments that infra- structuring practitioners seek. This thesis uses anecdotes as situated, embodied accounts of empirical data. The stories re-told in this book have been selected to invite the reader into the practical work, which underpins the concepts presented above, and, in congruence with the project’s methodology, calls into consideration that any event or interaction can be viewed from multiple perspectives and tell multiple tales.

Purpose: This thesis aims to explore if and how professionals’ participation in professional development enhances the quality of education for autistic students, including the perspectives of autistic students, their parents, and professionals in pre- and primary school. Furthermore, the thesis directs attention to how professional development may lead to the development of accommodations in the learning environment to support autistic students. Four studies have been conducted to fulfil the aim, which in combination answer the research questions addressed in this thesis. The four studies comprise one systematic review and three empirical studies. Study I, the systematic research review, explored adaptations and modification strategies. Study II investigated how a professional development intervention designed as a lesson study changed attitudes and practices amongst preschool professionals. Studies III–IV were developed from study II, and used professional development to explore changes in the preschool (study III) and primaryschool (study IV) practice. In these studies, multiple stakeholders were included; professionals (teachers, pre- and school management), autistic students, and their parents.

Theoretical frameworks: Pragmatism is used as the umbrella framework capturing the methodology and methods, in combination with Communities of Practice (CoP) and Landscapes of Practice (LoP), are used to explain and discuss the results of the thesis.

Design/Approach/Methods: A multilevel mixed methods research design was applied in this thesis. Following the concept of mixed methods, the integration was applied in three phases: research design, methods, interpretation and reporting. In the three empirical sub-studies, variants of mixed methods were alsoused in the designs. The results of the sub-studies are synthesized with a narrative synthesis.

Findings: The results from the synthesized sub-studies indicate that professional development contributes to changes in professionals’ attitudes, increased knowledge, and strategies to accommodate, the latter more vaguely. Professionals could identify more changes than parents and autistic students. Barriers to implementation were found, such as lack of resources and physical environment. Enabling factors were identified as participation (collaborative aspects). Discrepancies were detected across participants and contexts.

Conclusions: Based on the results of the included studies and the synthesized result, it is possible to conclude that professional development can contribute to changes, most prominent when exploring professionals’ views. The more distinct changes resided in changes and development in attitudes contributing to changes in mindset and increased knowledge. Furthermore, a lack of prerequisites, such as resources, may hinder the sustainability of professional development and, on a larger scale, inclusive education, which needs to be addressed further. To conclude equity for autistic students is a challenging issue for the Swedish school context, and is not yet fulfilled for this student group.

Originality/Value: This thesis offers insights into a complex area, includes multiple stakeholders and provides a comprehensive understanding of the phenomena. Including young autistic students as active participants could be considered to be of great value. The findings could be of interest to both the research community and school practice.

Immediate treatment is of extreme importance for stroke patients. However, providing fast enough treatment for stroke patients is far from trivial, mainly due to logistical challenges and difficulties in diagnosing the correct stroke type. One way to reduce the time to treatment is to use so-called Mobile Stroke Units (MSUs), which allows to diagnose and provide treatment for stroke patients already at the patient scene. A well-designed stroke transport policy is vital to improve the access to treatment for stroke patients. Simulation and mathematical optimization are useful approaches for assessing and optimizing stroke transport policies, without endangering the health of the patients.

The main purpose of this thesis is to contribute to improving the situation for stroke patients and to reducing the social impacts of stroke. The aim is to study how to use simulation and optimization to achieve improved analysis and planning of prehospital stroke care. In particular, we focus on assessing the potential use of MSUs in a geographic area. In this thesis, optimization is used to identify the optimal locations of MSUs, and simulation is used to assess different stroke transport policies, including MSU locations. The results of this thesis aim to support public health authorities when making decisions in the prehospital stroke care domain.

In order to fulfill the aim of this thesis, we develop and analyze a number of different simulation and optimization models. First, we propose a macro-level simulation model, an average time to treatment estimation model, used to estimate the expected time to treatment for different parts of a geographic region. Using the proposed model, we generate two different MSU scenarios to explore the potential benefits of employing MSUs in Sweden’s southern healthcare region (SHR).  

Second, we present an optimization model to identify the best placement of MSUs while making a trade-off between the efficiency and equity perspectives, providing maximum population coverage and equal service for all patients, respectively. The trade-off function used in the model makes use of the concepts of weighted average time to treatment to model efficiency and the time difference between the expected time to treatment for different geographical areas to model equity. In a scenario study applied in the SHR, we evaluate our optimization model by comparing the current situation with three MSU scenarios, including 1, 2, and 3 MSUs.

Third, we present a micro-level discrete event simulation model to assess stroke transport policies, including MSUs, allowing us to model the behaviors of individual entities, such as patients and emergency vehicles, over time. We generate a synthetic set of stroke patients using a Poisson distribution, used as input in a scenario study.

Finally, we present a modeling framework with reusable components, which aims to facilitate the construction of discrete event simulation models in the emergency medical services domain. The framework consists of a number of generic activities, which can be used to represent healthcare chains modeled in the form of flowcharts. As the framework includes activities and policies modeled on the general level, the framework can be used to create models only by providing input data and a care chain specification. We evaluate the framework by using it to build a model for simulating EMS activities related to the complex case of acute stroke.

Much previous research on the fear of crime has focused on why some individuals, with certain characteristics, experience more or less fear of crime than others. However, there is also a growing body of research examining the role that the neighbourhood context in which individuals reside plays in shaping such feelings and perceptions. At the same time, less research has been directed at understanding why certain small-scale micro-places evoke feelings of unsafety and fear of crime.

The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to improving the current state ofthe research focused on place, the fear of crime, and related methodological issues. The dissertation includes four original empirical research papers. Study I is based on a case study evaluating the impact of camera surveillance and examines what role the operationalization of place may play for the results and interpretation of a given study.

The findings show that different operationalizations may indeed produce different results, and that the choice of operationalization must be carefully considered in the context of study design. Study II uses responses to an open-ended survey question from three waves of the Malmö Community Survey (2012, 2015, 2018) to chart the spatial concentration and temporal stability of unsafe locations.

The findings show that locations perceived as unsafe by city inhabitants are concentrated to a very small proportion of the urban space, and that there is a temporal stability in unsafe locations over time. Study III further explores unsafe locations by examining the spatial risk factors associated with these unsafe locations and the role played by neighbourhood collective efficacy and disorder. The results show that a number of spatial risk factors are correlated with the outcome, suggesting that the physical environment has a role to play in shaping people’s perceptions of unsafety at a given location. The findings also show that there are major between neighbourhood variations in unsafe locations, but that neighbourhood collective efficacy and disorder play only a limited role in the explanation of this variance. The final paper, Study IV, is a methodological study focused on the feasibility of using an alternative approach to studying fear of crime, as a momentary event, and uses an experience research framework implemented using a smart phone application (STUNDA). The general conclusion is that it is feasible to conduct research on the fear of crime using a smartphone application, but that emerging methods may also involve new methodological issues and challenges.

The four studies have both methodological and theoretical implications, suggesting that the way place is defined and operationalized may have important impacts on the results and interpretations of research studies. In addition, the findings suggest that there is more to be learned about the fear of crime as a context-specific experience that is dependent on the immediate environment, and that alternative methodological approaches focused on surveying momentary experiences of fear of crime using smartphone applications seem to be feasible. A place-based approach to the fear of crime, supported by alternative measures and methods, may also be important in developing a broader understanding of how perceptions of fear of crime and unsafety are shaped. Such an understanding may in turn assist policymakers and practitioners to design knowledge-based interventions to reduce fear of crime and feelings of unsafety.

Purpose: The aim of this essay and its contribution to research is to identify the opportunities, pitfalls, and dilemmas that can arise when inclusive education is organized with regard to students with ASC. In order to create more understanding of the situation for students with ASC in schools, the study focus on school leadership.

Sub-studies: The essay consists of two studies. In the first study (1) the aim was to identify, describe, and analyze different research approaches to inclusive education and social participation for students with ASC, by performing a systematic research review. In the second study (2) principals of Swedish schools were interviewed, data collection was divided into three sets of interviews based on and using two models as tools in the analysis process. The models are the Index of Inclusion (Ainscow & Booth 2002) and three key concepts for inclusive school leadership (European Agency of Special Needs and Inclusive Education 2018; Óskarsdottir et al. 2020).

Theory: A dialectical approach (Clark, Dyson & Millward 1995; 1998) or the dilemma perspective (Nilholm 2003) have been used as a theoretical lens. This approach aims to provide a dynamic and abductive reasoning for the overall analysis in the essay, since inclusive education appears to create dilemmas when societal cultures and norms, bureaucracy, and structures meet. The analysis demonstrates that inclusive processes appear as dilemma-creating at different levels in the system and addresses democracy in terms of social justice.

Method: Crystallization is a term that relates to the practice of using multiple data sources and results, research approaches and lenses (Ellingson 2008; Tracy 2010), which leads to a more complex understanding being opened up in the overall analysis.

Knowledge contribution: Inclusion is mainly interpreted as the students’ experience of being socially accepted and having access to academic education and the curriculum. Principals’ feeling of loneliness in relation to their superiors—they need to fight for their students and their staff against decisionmakers higher up in the education system hierarchy. At the same time, it is noted that principals have agreat deal of freedom in their practice, but the issue of communication needs to be raised and support for principals is important. A discussion is needed about whose perspective is the prevailing one in decisionmaking processes in schools and in the school system.

Limitations: The data collection of the second study (2) took place via virtual meetings due to the pandemic. Virtual meetings are limited by the lack of being able to observe the interviewee's body language and nonverbal communication, as well as a small sample of respondents. These limitations affect the essay in general and thus to some extent reduce the possibility of generalizing the results.

Practical implications: This essay can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the inclusion concept in relation to students with ASC. It can potentially initiate forums for further discussions on the working conditions of principals in relation to their responsibilities and the expectations placed upon them. In addition, to conduct a continuous discussion about the importance of authenticity and accountability for all professionals in the school and its stakeholders. Development and improvement of structures that facilitate the inclusion of the student voice in decision-making processes are also seen as important.

Det finns ett påtagligt behov att synliggöra problemet med särbehandling i arbetslivet som ett socialpolitiskt problem. Social utsatthet i arbetslivet har ökat och särbehandling är ett rättsligt reglerat fenomen. Rättsskyddet och arbetsskadeförsäkringsskyddet för dem som hamnar utanför arbetsmarknaden på grund av särbehandlingär dock svagt, vilket gör att problemet behöver synliggöras som en socialpolitisk fråga, vilket inte görs idag. Förståelsen för särbehandling som fenomen i arbetslivet rymmer en stor kunskapslucka inom forskningsfältet, avseende praktiken och logiken bakom social exkludering och utmanövrering. Det finns idag en växande kritik mot individualiseringen av särbehandling som problem, såväl i praktik som forskning. Kritiken framhåller att det saknas strukturell kontextualisering till fenomenet särbehandling och att fokus inom den traditionella forskningen, alltför ensidigt, sökt förklaringar på individnivå. Behovet av teoretisk utveckling på organisationsnivå efterfrågas som kan öka förståelsen för problemet med social utsatthet i arbetslivet. Syftet med denna avhandling är att utforska hur särbehandling i form av ostracism, det vill säga ignorering, avvisande, exkludering och utmanövrering, praktiseras och uppstår i den organisatoriska arbetsmiljön med fokus på organisering av arbete, organisationskultur, organisatoriskt klimat samt beslutsprocessen kring utmanövrering. Metoden är organisationsetnografi vilket tillämpas på ett fall inom ett större sjukhus i Sverige, där det pågår utmanövrering på olika nivåer i organisationen. Utgångspunkten för fallet är att ge röst åt en profession inom sjukvården som sällan är i fokus: steriltekniker. Analysen har en abduktiv ansats och sker inom ramen för ett organisationspolitiskt perspektiv. Resultatet presenteras i fyra empiriska kapitel som visar A/Rumslig organisering, professionell diskurs och teknologisk övervakning fungerar som politiska verktyg för ostracism av medarbetare. B/ Organisationskulturen cirklar kring perfektionsideal och varumärkets överordnade plats i kommunikationen, vilket legitimerar särbehandling. C/ En reduktionistisk syn på särbehandling i styrdokument möjliggör döljande av strukturell särbehandling av medarbetare. D/ Beslutet att utmanövrera medarbetare baseras på en form av fabricering som har stöd i organisationens politik och kan ses som en forcerad politisk överenskommelse för att reducera osäkerhet. Tillsammans visas att den organisatoriska arbetsmiljön leder till att strukturell särbehandling reproducerar riktad särbehandling. Resultatet teoretiseras vilket mynnar ut i en definition av pragmatisk särbehandling. Pragmatisk särbehandling kan beskrivas i fyra dimensioner som jag kallar sociala föreställningar, hierarkisk gisslanpolitik, politisk uppmärksamhet och forcerade handslag. Tillsammans förklarar begreppen hur utmanövrering orkestreras som en följd av att medarbetare bedöms utgöra någon form av risk, baserad på sociala föreställningar, för organisationens strategiska intresse och/eller för de aktörer som drar nytta av dessa intressen. Avhandlingen kan ses som en dissonans till den traditionella synen på särbehandling som bygger på antagandet om en eskalerad konflikt mellan ”offer” och ”förövare”. Istället argumenteras för att individualiseringen i arbetslivet driver fram exkluderingspraktik och en reduktionistisk syn på särbehandling, vilket behöver problematiseras inom socialpolitiken.

Game design is a hard and multi-faceted task that intertwines different gameplay mechanics, audio, level, graphic, and narrative facets. Games' facets are developed in conjunction with others with a common goal that makes games coherent and interesting. These combinations result in plenty of games in diverse genres, which usually require a collaboration of a diverse group of designers. Collaborators can take different roles and support each other with their strengths resulting in games with unique characteristics. The multi-faceted nature of games and their collaborative properties and requirements make it an exciting task to use Artificial Intelligence (AI). The generation of these facets together requires a holistic approach, which is one of the most challenging tasks within computational creativity. Given the collaborative aspect of games, this thesis approaches their generation through Human-AI collaboration, specifically using a mixed-initiative co-creative (MI-CC) paradigm. This paradigm creates an interactive and collaborative scenario that leverages AI and human strengths with an alternating and proactive initiative to approach a task. However, this paradigm introduces several challenges, such as Human and AI goal alignment or competing properties.

In this thesis, game design and the generation of game facets by themselves and intertwined are explored through Human-AI collaboration. The AI takes a colleague's role with the designer, arising multiple dynamics, challenges, and opportunities. The main hypothesis is that AI can be incorporated into systems as a collaborator, enhancing design tools, fostering human creativity, and reducing workload. The challenges and opportunities that arise from this are explored, discussed, and approached throughout the thesis. As a result, multiple approaches and methods such as quality-diversity algorithms and designer modeling are proposed to generate game facets in tandem with humans, create a better workflow, enhance the interaction, and establish adaptive experiences.

In the present thesis, four studies are included within the scientific discipline of pedagogy and collaborative professional development research field—the thesis is based on a practice-based research approach. This thesis addresses identified problems in previous research and large-scale studies such as the OECD study Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) and school leaders’ and teachers’ attitudes. Furthermore, the need to design teaching that is content-inclusive and accessible to all students. The study’s overall question is: What factors of importance for promoting content-inclusive teaching emerge in the studies? Since the thesis aims to contribute with knowledge of how collaborative professional efforts can support teachers’ understanding of developing inclusive teaching in the classroom regarding the accessibility of teaching content for all students, the theoretical perspective is motivated by a cultural-historical perspective as an overall theoretical framework. Within the cultural-historical perspective, situated learning and communities of practice (CoP) are in the foreground. The framework of variation theory has been chosen to analyse which teaching content the students are offered to distinguish. The articles used both specific subject content to show how conditions for inclusive teaching can contribute to increased availability of the content knowledge and more comprehensive studies of how teachers’ collaborative competence can contribute to increased accessibility. Finally, teachers’ perspectives and experiences are in the foreground. The design of the four studies is based on a mixed-methods approach. That means the design of the thesis used qualitative and quantitative methods, both individually and in combination, in the different studies. Since two-year time perspective, it is defined as a longitudinal process. The synthesis describes the factors necessary for promoting content inclusion that has been highlighted in the dissertation studies. Three factors have been identified in the dissertation’s results of significance for how collaborative professional efforts can support teachers’ understanding of developing inclusive teaching in the classroom regarding the teaching content’s accessibility for all students: 1. Development of CoP with a focus on content-inclusive teaching 2. Collaborative professional development that challenges teachers’ views on inclusive teaching 3. Analysis of intentional and enacted teaching to identify what is inclusive Within the framework of the studies the dissertation consists of, the results show that the cyclical classroom models, Lesson and Learning study, have contributed to the teachers gaining an in-depth understanding of which aspects have been particularly successful in developing their teaching design. The studies show factors that are important for promoting content-inclusive teachings, such as when the entire teaching team takes collective responsibility for content-focused teaching and is given time for collaborative professional development. Another factor is that teachers are given the opportunity to develop their ability to analyse how teaching can be planned and implemented to identify what contributes to inclusive teaching, where the content and learning situation is put in the foreground. This change has meant a higher focus on the availability of teaching content to all students, compared to a previous focus on individual students’ need for special support. The present dissertation results can be seen as a contribution to practicebased professional development research where researchers’ and teachers’ joint competence is the basis for systematically and structurally approaching the object of learning, thereby reducing the gap between theory and practice.

My doctoral project aims to provide new knowledge about Swedish women’s writing between 1940 and 1955. I ask questions about how novels, short stories and chronicles depict women’s citizenship and produce ideas about the Swedish national community. I also ask questions about what conditions are required for women to be writers and in what ways a selection of texts written by working-class and middle-class women can contribute to new perspectives on the history of Swedish literature.

With an understanding that the mass media plays a major role in the production of the imagined Swedish community, I study the production of women’s literature in relation to the dominant culture and the public (literary) sphere. By reading the texts both as mass media and as literature, I analyse the ways in which the texts (re)produce and negotiate the dominant national culture, and I highlight tensions and conflicts in and between the texts. Furthermore, I deploy a critical perspective when discussing the (re)production of myths about Sweden and citizen ideals. Another core point of departure is my understanding of how history is made and how the meanings of time and space are created through the selection, interpretation and valuation of texts. Additionally, the dominant culture becomes visible when marginalized texts, such as those written by female writers from 1940 to 1955, are read and the voices of these writers are heard.

Various notions of Swedish women and their citizenship are produced in my selection of texts found in the archives. Overall, these texts challenge the myth of the Swedish welfare society, where all citizens can live without discrimination and poverty. Women’s citizenship is portrayed as circumvented, and brutal insights are provided into what a limited right to abortion and limited rape legislation mean for women, as well as what a society planned from a gender-complementary viewpoint means for women’s social and economic rights. The texts make visible both the patriarchy and the class society’s naturalised defence of inequality. They show that the struggle for (more) equal citizenship requires that it be waged against discrimination and against unequal material conditions.

Furthermore, the texts also tell us that the myth of the Swedish community as homogenous, requires that conflicting narratives – like women’s novels and chronicles – be sorted out of the historiography.

Även om man inte känner till pjäsen eller till dess författare vet man antagligen att väntan på Godot anspelar på ett hopplöst tillstånd som hålls flytande genom illusionen av något hoppfullt. Studien handlar om en institutionellt återskapad vardagsverklighet på ett HVB-hem för ensamkommande barn och unga. Det övergripande syftet med denna fenomenologiskt orienterade studie är att åskådlig- och begripliggöra de institutionella villkor under vilka personalen förväntas realisera sitt integrerande samhällsuppdrag. Boendet är en institutionell scen. Ett antal individer – med vittskilda livshistorier – blir inkastade på denna scen för att tillsammans rekonstruera ett vardagligt meningssammanhang som i sig själv ska främja barnen och ungdomarnas integration i det svenska samhället. Allegoriskt uttryckt kan (föreställningen om) denna integration likställas med Godot. Ingen vet riktigt vem denna Godot är, om han kommer eller om han ens existerar. I sin frånvaro fyller Godot likväl en allsmäktig och messiansk roll för de inblandade aktörerna. Det är föreställningen om barnen och ungdomarnas integration som ger den institutionella tillvaron mening. Denna tillvaro koloniseras dock ständigt av olika institutionella faktorer som förvrider det mellanmänskliga meningsskapandet till något absurt. Denna avhandling är en etnografisk berättelse om det absurda i de institutionella villkor under vilka denna integrationsfrämjande vardagsverklighet återskapas

Syftet med föreliggande licentiatavhandling är att, utifrån ett specialdidaktiskt perspektiv, bidra med kunskap om lågpresterande elevers grundläggande antals- och taluppfattning, och hur utvecklingen av denna kan stödjas. Den övergripande forskningsfråga som besvaras är vilka aspekter, som ur ett specialdidaktiskt perspektiv, är särskilt betydelsefulla att beakta vad gäller lågpresterande elevers kunskapsutveckling inom grundläggande antals- och taluppfattning. Avhandlingen består av två delstudier.

I delstudie 1, som är en systematisk litteraturöversikt, studeras vad som är kännetecknande för lågpresterande årskurs F-3-elever och hur de definieras i forskningslitteraturen. I den andra studien, delstudie 2, undersöks vilket kunnande gällande tals del-helhetsrelationer som förskoleklasselever utvecklar i en undervisningsinsats där konceptuella subitiseringsaktiviteter fokuseras.

Specialdidaktikens förebyggande och stödjande roll utgör studiens övergripande förståelseram där de lågpresterande elevernas kunskapsutveckling förstås i förhållande till vilket lärande som möjliggörs i undervisningen. Det matematiska innehållet är grundläggande antals- och taluppfattning med fokus på konceptuell subitisering. Teorier om barns antals- och taluppfattningsutveckling (Baroody m.fl., 2009; Nunes &Bryant, 2007; Sayer m.fl. 2016), inbegripet teorier om subitisering (Clements m.fl., 2019; Kaufman m.fl., 1949) och groupitizing (Starkey &McCandliss, 2014), har utgjort den innehållsliga utgångspunkten. För att tolka specialdidaktikens specifika bidrag och krafter i relation till allmän matematikdidaktisk kompetens har ramverket Mathematical Knowledgefor Teaching (MKT) (Ball m.fl., 2008) använts, mer specifikt de tre delarna specialized content knowledge, knowledge of content and students och knowledge of content and teaching.

Resultatet av syntesen visar att den specifika kompetens som krävs i relation till innehållet (specialized content knowledge), är fördjupad kunskap om centrala aspekter och vanliga trösklar i elevers kunskapsutveckling inom grundläggande antals- och taluppfattning för att motverka framtida matematiksvårigheter. Även fördjupad kunskap om elevers individuella variationer vad gäller att förstå och hantera antal och tal (knowledge of content and students) för att tidigt kunna identifiera elever i svårigheter är centralt och slutligen fördjupad kunskap om hur lågpresterande elevers antals-och taluppfattning kan stödjas och svårigheter förebyggas och överbryggas i undervisningen (knowledge of content and teaching). Specialdidaktikens bidrag förstås som krafter som hjälper till att balansera relationen mellan den svagpresterande eleven, läraren och matematikinnehållet i undervisningen, så att lärande möjliggörs. Specialdidaktisk kompetens kan därmed sägas komplettera den allmänna ämnesdidaktiska kompetensen (MKT) genom sitt bidrag med fördjupad kunskap om hur elever som inte utvecklas som förväntat i matematik kan stödjas, i grundläggande antals- och taluppfattning, vilket bildar Specialdidactic Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching eller SMKT.