Detta arbete undersöker hur en urban artefakt kan utformas för att främja social hållbarhet. Genom att tillämpa användarcentrerad design (ACD) som ett strategiskt angreppssätt för att främja hållbar utveckling, kombinerat med teorier om tolkningsflexibilitet, affordance och det semiotiska gapet, har ett modulärt system i betong gestaltats.Genom att använda skateboard som designlins har projektet utforskat hur objekt kan fungera som rumsliga resurser som bjuder in till skapandet och förhandling om stadsrummet. Metoden har inneburit en iterativ process med en expertintervju, workshops och fältstudier.Resultatet visar att en avskalad gestaltning möjliggör förutsättningarna för delad användning, där användaren själv får definiera funktionen. Genom att utnyttja materialets egenskaper och använda den uppkomna patinan som narrativt verktyg, skapas förutsättningar för konvivialitet och ett delat ägarskap. Studien visar på vikten av att ersätta strikt kodade objekt med förhandlingsbara system för att bidra till en mer demokratisk och levande stadsmiljö.

This thesis examines the erasure of the Izbrisani - 25 671 people removed from Slovenian population registers on 26th February 1992 - as a case study of nation-building and state foundation in newly independent Slovenia. Through a qualitative documentary analysis of legal rulings, political speeches and media archives, the thesis investigates how this administrative act of exclusion revealed the Slovenian national identity in the post-communist period.

The analysis follows the chronological evolution of the affair from the 1992 erasure through the Slovenian Constitutional Court rulings of 1999 and 2003, the decisive 2004 referendum, the crucial European Court of Human Rights condemnation in 2012 and Slovenia's public apology in 2022. The theoretical framework relies on Benedict Anderson's concept of ‘imagined communities’, Walker Connor's and Thomas Hylland Eriksen's works on states, ethnonationalism and ethnic homogeneity, Giorgio Agamben's notions of ‘homo sacer’ and the state of exception, and Hannah Arendt's concept of the ‘banality of Evil’.

The thesis argues that the erasure functioned as a deliberate move of nation-building by the negative, through exclusion, as Slovenia defined the boundaries of its national community at the expense of rule of law. The affair exposed deep tensions between democratic aspirations and nationalist reflexes but also between state legality and community identity. The long-lasting resolution of the dispute required supranational intervention, revealing both the fragility of national democratic institutions and the slow capacity of Slovenian society for collective acknowledgement.

This thesis examines how the European Union (EU) and the League of Arab States (LAS) are perceived to support Palestine, and why both actors are often seen as falling short of the expectations placed on them. Using Christopher Hill’s Capability–Expectations Gap framework, the study analyses the mismatch between what these organisations are expected to do and what they are perceived as able or willing to do in practice. 

The thesis is based on eight qualitative expert interviews with actors connected to diplomacy, policymaking, civil society, peacebuilding, the EU, the LAS, and Palestine. The study follows an interpretivist approach, focusing on how expectations, capabilities, limitations, and possible cooperation are understood by people working close to the topic. 

The findings show that the EU is mainly perceived as an actor with resources, instruments, and political influence, but without the unity or political will to use them consistently in the Palestinian context. The LAS, by contrast, is viewed as closely connected to Palestine through Arab identity and regional responsibility but limited by weak institutional capacity and divisions among member states. While the two organisations have different kinds of gaps, both are seen as failing to turn statements, funding, and formal commitments into meaningful political change. 

The thesis also argues that EU–LAS cooperation could, in theory, create complementarity, as the EU has institutional and financial tools while the LAS has regional legitimacy and contextual understanding. However, this possibility remains limited by internal divisions, external pressure, and lack of political will. 

This thesis tests and builds upon Finnemore and Barnett´s (1999) theory to answer to what extent bureaucratic pathologies explain the United Nations´ efforts to achieve SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) in Ethiopia and Nepal. As part of a comparative-case analysis, documents by the United Nations and empirical evidence from diverse disciplines are assessed. The analysis explores whether irrationality of rationalisation, universalism, the normalisation of deviance, organisational insulation, and cultural contestation can be observed in the United Nation´s effort to arrive at SDG 2 in Ethiopia and Nepal. The thesis concludes that while differing in intensity, all five mechanisms can be observed in both cases, generating or reproducing dysfunctional behaviour by the United Nations in Ethiopia and Nepal. 

 Professional welfare practice is not a neutral site of support. When practitioners work with young people navigating precarious futures, they do not merely respond to circumstances - they actively produce what futures appear possible and realistic. This thesis examines how NGO professionals in Malmö construct futures for Afghan youth and how hope is mobilised within those constructions. Through interviews with frontline workers, it shows that hope in professional welfare discourse is not simply a resource to be fostered and transferred; it is also a mechanism through which aspiration is aligned with what structural conditions permit. The futures professionals construct are shaped by what they can say, what they choose to withhold, and what the conditions of welfare work make unsayable altogether. The result is a study of how hope governs as much as it enables, and of what welfare discourse forecloses in the very act of opening a future.

As organisations increasingly rely on data for strategic decision-making, the demand for scalable cloud-based data platforms has grown substantially. Databricks and Snowflake have emerged as two leading platforms in this space, yet research on what drives organisational choice between them remains limited. This study examines the factors influencing platform selection, how the chosen platform affects data operations in practice, and what opportunities and challenges organisations anticipate. A qualitative approach was adopted, with data collected through five semi-structured interviews analysed using thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke's framework. Findings indicate that technical, economic, and organisational factors shape platform decisions. AI-integration is identified as a key future opportunity, while vendor lock-in and competency gaps remain recurring challenges.

Studien tar sin utgångspunkt i de utmaningar yrkeslärare ställs inför vid bedömning av yrkeskunnande inom gymnasial lärlingsutbildning. I lärlingsutbildning sker minst hälften av utbildningen på en arbetsplats, vilket gör att läraren saknar direkt insyn i lärlingens utveckling och lärande.

Yrkeskunnande kännetecknas ofta av en praktisk och tyst dimension som inte alltid låter sig verbaliseras eller fångas i standardiserade former. Detta innebär särskilda utmaningar för yrkeslärare vid bedömning av lärlingars kunnande. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur yrkeslärare inom naturbruksprogrammets lärlingsutbildning uppfattar bedömning av lärlingars yrkeskunnande, med fokus på vilken innebörd bedömning ges och vilket kunnande som uppfattas som relevant att bedöma. 

Studien har en kvalitativ och fenomenografisk ansats. Datainsamlingen har skett iterativt genom intervjuer i två steg samt observationer av bedömningssituationer på lärlingarnas arbetsplatser (APL). Analysen har fokuserat på att identifiera kvalitativt skilda sätt att förstå och ge innebörd åt bedömning. 

Resultatet visar att de deltagande yrkeslärarnas bedömningspraktik präglas av tre huvudsakliga sätt att uppfatta bedömning: som kriteriestyrd praktik, yrkesbaserad värdering och relationell samverkan. Dessa uppfattningar framträder inte som isolerade, utan som ömsesidigt beroende och samspelande i praktiken. Den kriteriestyrda praktiken skapar formell legitimitet. Den yrkesbaserade värderingen fångar yrkets tysta kvaliteter. Den relationella samverkan utgör den process genom vilken kunnandet görs synligt och bedömningsbart i samspel mellan lärare, handledare och lärling. Studien belyser därmed hur yrkeslärarens professionella omdöme blir centralt i balansen mellan skolans krav och arbetslivets praktiker.

This article engages with the increasingly repressive context of social work in Sweden. Drawingon ten focus groups together comprising a total of 51 residents of Järva, one of the districts ofStockholm particularly affected by deadly shootings in the 2020s, the article explores how theinterviewees reflect on an eviction reform introduced to create safer neighbourhoods. The measureextends landlords’ power to evict families because of crime committed by a child in the household.The article analyses how the policy expands criminal policy into the reproductive sphere,reshaping parenting, family relations and trust in welfare institutions. Theoretically, by bringingLoïc Wacquant’s concept of the Centaur state into dialogue with Dorothy Roberts’s understandingof the family policing system, the article situates the eviction reform within the framework of abroader remodelling of the Nordic welfare state. Residents’ accounts reveal how the threat ofeviction operates as a form of reproductive racism, reinforcing authoritarian parenting, cultivatingintra-family suspicion and undermining trust in social services. The article demonstrates how socialwork becomes entangled in a punitive turn intended to collapse any distinction between care andcontrol while widening the securitisation net over communities already disproportionately targetedby state surveillance.

This thesis examines climate finance by the World Bank, specifically the reason for the Bank not playing a more active role in the dight against the climate crisis. The paper draws on theory developed by Giorgio Agamben to establish the World Bank as an economic sovereign which contributes to the exclusion of developing countries from certain important political right and leverages the concept of grievability developed by Judith Butler to scrutinize how these countries are seen as not fully included in the international community. Utilizing a three-dimensional theory of Critical Discourse Analysis as a method, this thesis analyses World Development Reports, the institutional structure of the World Bank and finally discourse on a societal level. The thesis concludes that the World Bank maintains is status as a sovereign in the economic sphere by contributing to the undermining of the political power of developing states who are rendered ungrievable both for and by this process. The main body of the thesis comprises 11.930 words.

 The emergence of deepfakes, which are AI generated audio, images, or videos, have the potential to cause serious harms to individuals. Deepfakes also challenge legal frameworks worldwide and expose how these frameworks are unable to mitigate deepfake related harms. The Danish Copyright Act Amendments have extended the scope of copyright law beyond traditional uses through the §65a and §73a incorporation of protecting likeness, audio, and performance of individuals through consent-based control. The thesis will analyse how the amendments have conceptualised deepfake harms and explore how legal frameworks designed for creative works can be extended to protect personhood. Using the legal doctrine methodology through a single case study, this thesis analyses the Danish Copyright Act amendments and the EU AI Act. The analytical frameworks of the theory of personhood and human security and focuses on the types of harm identified, the subject of protection and regulatory logic of the Act and contextually references the EU AI Act to show how it differs from the Danish Copyright Act amendments. This thesis argues that the Danish Copyright Act Amendments represent a shift in how legal frameworks can be operationalized to address emerging issues and protect personhood in the digital age. 

 This thesis examines how corporate mobility shapes regulatory decision-making in Icelandic cruise governance. It asks how much practical autonomy a state retains when the private actors it regulates can shift activity across ports, routes and regions. Drawing on Susan Strange’s concept of structural power, the thesis analyses cruise tourism as a case of non-state influence and constrained sovereignty in a mobile maritime market. The study uses a qualitative case study design based on five semi-structured interviews with six participants from port, municipal, regulatory, intermediary and industry positions, supported by policy and governance documents, industry submissions and media reporting from 2024 to 2026. The analysis finds that cruise companies influence governance mainly through planning horizons, route flexibility, regulatory predictability concerns and anticipated exit. Lobbying appears mainly as mediated industry representation. Cruise Iceland, the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO), and the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) communicate concerns on behalf of cruise- related stakeholders, including ports, agents, service companies and cruise operators. Iceland retains formal regulatory authority, but this authority is exercised inside a global cruise system where future deployment decisions shape the feasible space of regulation. The effect is uneven. Reykjavík retains more leverage through infrastructure and turnaround capacity, while smaller ports such as Ísafjörður face sharper vulnerability. The thesis contributes to International Relations by showing how structural power operates through indirect, temporal and territorially uneven mechanisms.

This thesis examines three European international news broadcasts: BBC, DW News, and France24 to analyse how discourses of responsibility are constructed in their video news coverage of the 2023 Pylos shipwreck. Entman's (1993) four framing functions is applied as the primary analytical framework, which is complemented by Rodriguez and Dimitrova's (2011) visual framing framework and Fairclough's (1995) critical discourse analysis (CDA). Fourteen videos published within ten days of the incident were analysed. Findings reveal notable differences across the three outlets. BBC and DW news both demonstrate more challenging of the official Greek Coast Guard narrative, in which humanitarian voices and structural causes are the most notable characteristics. France 24 more frequently reproduces state-aligned discourse. All three outlets predominantly mediate migrant experiences through the use of sources rather than direct survivor testimony. These findings contribute to the broader field of media and migration studies by demonstrating how international news broadcasts frame accountability following large-scale migration tragedies.

The aim of this paper is to explore differences in how civil servants in Sweden organize and justify their policies towards families who do not make a school choice. We draw on theories about competition as a social construction as well as different notions of justice in education. We present descriptive statistics from a large-scale quantitative data set and conduct a qualitative content analysis of interviews with civil servants to study school choice policies in Sweden, well known for its consumer and market-oriented education policies for the past 35 years. We identify that municipalities that organize mandatory school choice have both different policies and different justifications towards families who, despite information campaigns and other activities, fail or refuse to make an active school choice. The study makes an empirical contribution to the previously theorized relationship between choice and competition and offers a nuanced understanding of differences in how local authorities organize and justify allocation policies in their school choice regimes. We raise the question of whether extensive localized differences towards families are justified in an educational system that has an outspoken agenda towards equal treatment and equally good education for all no matter of the student’s family background.

I takt med att Internet of Things (IoT) teknologier blivit allt vanligare i hemmiljöer, har även de egenskaper som karaktäriserar våld i nära relationer utvecklats. Denna studie undersöker hur IoT-arkitektur kan utnyttjas för att upptäcka och ingripa vid incidenter som involverar våld i nära relationer. Med Design Science Research Methodology som vägledning, utvecklade vi en TinyML-prototyp kapabel till Speech Emotion Recognition (SER) på en simulerad ESP32-mikrokontroller med hjälp av plattformen Edge Impulse, med målet att direkt på edge-enheten identifiera känslotillstånd kopplade till våld i nära relationer i en ren ljudmiljö. Genom att använda RAVDESS-dataset extraherades MFCC:er från ljudfilerna och känslotillstånden grupperades om till en binär klassificering bestående av “Safe” och “Distress”. Modellens parametrar optimerades därefter för den valda mikrokontrollern. Den resulterande prototypen kunde framgångsrikt utföra inferens i realtid utan beroende av molntjänster. Utvärderingen av modellen visade ett Weighted Average F1-värde av 78% under validering och 73% under testning. Dessutom uppnådde systemet en inferenstid på 281 ms och använde 55,2 kB RAM. Dessa resultat visar att det är genomförbart att implementera en TinyML-modell för detektion och intervention av våld i nära relationer på en edge-enhet, i en kontrollerad ljudmiljö.

This Bachelor's thesis examines the influence of racialised discourses, tropes and fears regarding hispanic immigrants on the development of increasingly inhumane immigration reforms and enforcement in California and Arizona between 1986 and 1999. Relying on secondary sources, this thesis analyses prevalent themes in public discussion of Hispanic immigrants, comparing these findings to the resultant laws and enforcement, focusing on The Save Our State Committee’s Proposition 187 and the Chandler Roundup. The author utilizes theory from Michel Foucault’s (1975), Giorgio Agamben (1998) and Hana E. Brown (2013). The results were that key themes present in the anti-immigrant discourse were ‘The browning of America', ‘Criminality’ and the supposed ‘Racial-Character and Welfare-Dependency’ of Mexicans. These narratives were politically leveraged by groups such as SOS and led to increasingly punitive and racially-discriminatory policy and enforcement, infringing on the Human rights of Latinos. The author argues that this case can be illustrative for contemporary immigration debates and should prompt us to re-centre universal human rights instead of nativism. 

Hearing is a core sense for the human body. However, digital sound does not work the same way that human hearing does. Some fundamental differences exist, such as interaural differences in time, loudness, and frequency. To simulate human hearing in a digital setting, technologies such as Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF) and binaural audio are utilized. But how does this technology affect a non-VR game experience? This small-scale exploratory study creates two versions of the same game, the only difference between them being that one uses Stereo, the other HRTF. As a result of the small scale, the mentioned effects in the study are only applicable in this particular setting and do not make any statements regarding the effects of HRTF on games in general. In the present sample, significant differences were found between the Stereo and HRTF versions in terms of Naturalness and Presence. No other significant differences between versions were found. Qualitative data of the study indicate that HRTF may increase the degree of Immersion, Sound Localization (horizontal), Naturalness, and Presence for some participants. The study discusses the factors that may affect the chosen dependent variables. The study also found wide individual differences in the experience of HRTF effects. Additionally, mixing challenges of making the Stereo and HRTF versions similar enough in loudness are discussed. The impact of not disclosing game audio implementation is also discussed. These are especially important considerations for reliability within the scientific game audio field that have been underreported in previous research. 

Artikeln behandlar regeringens socialpolitiska reformpaket avseende bidrags-tak samt aktivitetskrav som berör barns rätt till social trygghet och skälig lev-nadsnivå. Syftet är att analysera hur regeringens reformunderlag argumente-rar och reflekterar synen på rättighet och rättvisa avseende försörjningsstödet utifrån Dalys (2020) typologi rörande barnperspektiv. Reformunderlagen be-tonar två grundläggande argument: rättigheter för bidragstagare och deras barn samt ökad rättvisa i förhållande till förvärvsarbetande skattebetalare. Bidragsreformen kan förstås som ett exempel på hur familjeorienterad social-politik förskjuts från ett behovsorienterat till ett vuxet beteendeorienterat fokus vilket innebär att barns sociala rättigheter i allt mindre utsträckning behandlas som knutna till barnet som självständigt rättssubjekt. Barns behov underord-nas successivt vuxenorienterade beteendekrav och arbetsmarknadspolitiska målsättningar där ökade krav och sanktioner framställs som barnets bästa då föräldrars arbetsmarknadsdeltagande förväntas ökar.

Huvudtemat i detta nummer av Socialmedicinsk tidskrift är fattigdom i välfärdsstaten. Fattigdomen börjar återigen beskrivas som ett individbetingat problem i Sverige, vilket har lett till nya politiska strider om hur vi kan förstå problemet och hur det ska lösas.Forskningens roll i detta sammanhang är att undersöka utvecklingen över tid, analysera bakomliggande orsaker till att utsattheten ökar och beskriva vilka konsekvenser det får både för individer och samhälle. Samtidigt kan forskningen problematisera och kritiskt granska de förslag på åtgärder som läggs fram utifrån vetenskapliga premisser och evidens.I detta temanummer presenterar vi därför artiklar som belyser fattigdomens utveckling, välfärdspolitisk förändring och dess konsekvenser.Ett återkommande tema i numret är spänningen mellan två olika socialpolitiska ideal. Å ena sidan finns föreställningen om social och ekonomisk trygghet som en rättighet och ett gemensamt ansvar byggd på solidaritet. Å andra sidan framträder en politisk diskurs där individens beteende, arbetsmarknadsdeltagande och skyldigheter i allt högre grad står i centrum. Bidragen i detta temanummer kretsar kring följande grundläggande fråga: Hur ska en välfärdsstat förhålla sig till människor som av olika skäl inte fullt ut kan försörja sig genom lönearbete? 

Denna studie undersöker hur hållbar mobilitet planeras i relation till ekologiska värden inom stadsutvecklingsprojektet Bäckaslöv i Växjö, i direkt anslutning till ett Natura 2000-område vid namn Bokhultet. Studien tar sin utgångspunkt i den målkonflikt som uppstår mellan ambitioner att främja hållbara transport- och rörlighetsmönster samt behovet av att bevara biologisk mångfald och ekologiska strukturer i urbana expansionsområden. Syftet är att analysera hur planeringsprocesser hanterar avvägningar mellan ekologisk hållbarhet, tillväxt och mobilitet inom ramen för dagens planeringspraktik. 

Studien tillämpar en kvalitativ metod där planeringsdokument, miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar och tidigare forskning analyseras genom ett teoretiskt ramverk bestående av John Urrys mobilitetsparadigm, Mimi Shellers perspektiv på mobilitetsrättvisa samt forskning om urbanisering, stadsutbredning och ekologisk urbanism. Särskild vikt läggs vid hur infrastrukturer, tillgänglighet och mobilitetssystem påverkar naturmiljöer och ekologiska funktioner i stadsutvecklingsprocesser. 

Resultaten visar att planeringen av Bäckaslöv präglas av försök att kombinera hållbar mobilitet med ekologisk hänsyn genom åtgärder som gröna korridorer, buffertzoner och kompensatoriska miljöinsatser. Samtidigt synliggör studien hur tillväxt och urban expansion ofta framträder som prioriterade och till viss del styrande mål, där naturen blir den anpassningsbara variabeln i planeringsprocessen. Analysen illustrerar vidare hur hållbarhetsbegreppet rymmer interna utmaningar, där klimat- och mobilitetsorienterade ambitioner inte alltid är förenliga med det långsiktiga bevarandet av biologisk mångfald. 

Studien bidrar därmed till en kritisk förståelse av hur hållbar stadsutveckling kan skapa spänningar mellan olika hållbarhetsdimensioner, samt hur dessa konflikter förhandlas och legitimeras inom planeringspraktiken.

This study addresses the optimal temperature regulation problem of a laboratory-scale heat flow system using a two-degree-of-freedom proportional–integral–derivative (2DOF-PID) controller tuned by a newly developed enhanced quadratic interpolation optimization (eQIO) algorithm. The main contribution lies in improving the original quadratic interpolation optimization (QIO) framework by integrating two lightweight enhancement mechanisms: a periodic parabolic local search to strengthen local exploitation and a stagnation-aware diversity recovery strategy to prevent premature convergence. The enhanced formulation preserves the deterministic interpolation-based structure of QIO while increasing convergence reliability and robustness without introducing additional algorithmic complexity. The effectiveness of eQIO is first evaluated on ten benchmark functions from the CEC-2019 test suite and compared with QIO, mountain gazelle optimization, tuned moss growth optimization, whale optimization algorithm, and superb fairy-wren optimization algorithm. Statistical results obtained from 500 independent runs indicate that eQIO consistently improves average solution quality and reduces standard deviation relative to QIO, while achieving competitive performance against population-based metaheuristic algorithms. Subsequently, eQIO is employed to tune the parameters of the 2DOF-PID controller for real-time temperature regulation experiments under step, square, and sinusoidal reference signals. The experimental results demonstrate reduced overshoot, lower steady-state error, improved tracking accuracy, and smoother control effort compared with alternative optimizer-based tuning approaches. Quantitatively, the proposed eQIO-based 2DOF-PID controller reduces the total mean absolute error (MAE) by 14.8% under step–square reference signals and by 45.8% under step–sinusoidal reference signals compared with the original QIO-based controller, while also providing smoother control action and improved tracking robustness. Overall, the proposed eQIO-driven 2DOF-PID framework establishes a computationally efficient and experimentally validated methodology for reliable thermal system control.

The ability to achieve controlled distributions of precipitates is one of the cornerstones of alloy optimization, in which small-angle scattering (SAS) serves as a powerful technique to characterize these distributions. One method of analyzing SAS data involves form factor intensity models, where modeled distribution parameters are obtained by solving a nonlinear least-squares (NLS) problem. However, the NLS method with a simultaneous search for all model parameters minimizes a very ill-conditioned objective function, which leads to a large number of search iterations and can give inadequate solutions. With the advancement of the 4th generation synchrotron rings and their potentially large datasets, it is increasingly important to find new and efficient numerical strategies for high throughput analysis. As a step in this direction, the purpose of this work is to investigate a pseudo-automatic numerical solution strategy based on the separable NLS method. The strategy is assessed in terms of correlation and precision of the model parameters, as well as convergence of the solution, using both synthetic and experimental scattering datasets. The decoupled fitting approach favors efficient parallelized batch fitting, which provides linear speedup for appropriate workloads. To support further development, the compounded features of the proposed solution strategy are packed into an easily accessible modular framework named python Small Angle Scattering Analysis (pySASA), which is openly available.

Micro-phenomenology has recently gained traction in HCI as ways of accessing embodied, lived dimensions of interaction that resist conventional qualitative capture. By foregrounding pre-reflective experience, this approach promises greater experiential precision. However, when designers and HCI researchers attempt to apply Micro-phenomenology in practice, frictions often emerge. The method was not originally designed for design contexts, raising questions about accessibility, adaptability, and epistemic fit. We ask what is gained, transformed, or compromised when micro-phenomenology is brought into design research, and how they might evolve through situated practice. The workshop combines hands-on demonstrations of interviewing and analysis with guided reflective listening, followed by rotating small-group dialogues and material exploration. By bringing together researchers and practitioners interested in embodied and experiential approaches to HCI, the workshop aims to broaden access to micro-phenomenology while spurring critical dialogue about their limitations, transformations, and potential contributions to design research.

Background: Due to global demographic changes and transformations of healthcare organizations, nursing students need to be adequately prepared for caring for older persons in home settings and for involving and supporting their family members. However, nursing students feel unprepared for and anxious about interacting with family members. This study is part of a project aiming to advance nursing education on this matter by involving undergraduate nursing students in the development of an educational intervention. Aim: This study aims to describe the variation in nursing students' understanding of interactions with family members of older persons receiving home care. Design: This study was designed as a descriptive qualitative study with a phenomenographic approach. Setting: Data were collected from nursing students at three universities between February and April 2025 (Sweden). Participants: A total of 18 nursing students participated. Method: Data were collected using individual semi-structured interviews and analysed using phenomenographic analysis. Results: The variation in the nursing students' understandings comprises three descriptive categories: rationales for interactions, challenges in interactions, and strategies for successful interactions. Discussion: The findings indicate that undergraduate nursing students perceive their current education as insufficient to prepare them to involve and support family members in care. From a teaching and learning perspective, this study highlights the need for intentional, theory-informed, and practice-oriented educational strategies. Specifically, students emphasized the importance of combining theoretical grounding with experiential learning using real clinical cases, group discussions, and role-play sustained across the curriculum. In addition, communication skills training is needed to assess family needs and caregiving preferences and to manage complex communication and competing interests. These findings can inform the content and design of activities in educational interventions. Conclusion: Identifying a clear purpose for interacting with family members was fundamental for the nursing students because it guided the proposed strategies to overcome anticipated challenges.

Objective: To analyze national and regional differences in assessment of orthodontic treatment needs and timing for treatment between specialists in orthodontics in Denmark and Sweden. Additionally, to map the use of digital platforms in orthodontic referral processes. Materials and methods: A questionnaire comprising 20 items was developed to assess nine patient cases with different malocclusions and sent to nearly 500 board-certified orthodontic specialists in Denmark and Sweden. Each case was documented by clinical photos, line drawings of the head and face, and malocclusion descriptions. Before the start of the survey, the questionnaire was tested in both countries by eight experienced orthodontists. The survey was distributed between 06 November 2024 and 27 January 2025. Data were analyzed using chi-square tests with false discovery rate correction. Results: Two hundred and nineteen responses were included. Both intra-regional and cross-national differences were found in treatment need assessments. Danish respondents showed greater agreement, while Swedish assessments varied more. Digital referral systems were more common in Sweden but linked to an increased tendency to select patient observation rather than making a definitive assessment of treatment need. In Denmark, high agreement (> 80%) was found for treatment need in six of nine cases. One patient case was generally deemed not eligible, while one case demonstrated high variability. Significant regional differences were noted in both treatment need and timing. In Sweden, strong agreement was observed for five cases. One case showed wide variation. Regional differences were significant for some cases, both in need and preferred treatment timing. Conclusions: Specialists in Orthodontics in Denmark showed more consistent assessments than those in Sweden, likely due to national guidelines. Digital referrals were common in Sweden but linked to more varied evaluations, especially in borderline cases.

Family caregivers play a critical role in chronic conditions care, yet digital support for their well-being remains limited. While prior HCI work has focused on task coordination, value elicitation, and information management, this project supports family caregivers in identifying and making sense of their own needs. Building on a clinical screening instrument in colorectal cancer care, we explore how such a tool can be adapted through an iterative, HCI-led process to provide value in everyday life. Through informed internal design sessions with Care Science, Computer Science, and HCI researchers, and a workshop and prototype testing with family caregivers, we integrate the screening instrument into a family caregiver-oriented self-care platform. This process addresses framing, data representation, and interaction flow, acknowledging family caregivers' demands and needs. As work in progress, we indicate how formative HCI evaluation can be combined with health-oriented outcome assessment to adapt clinical instruments into caregiver-centered digital health interventions.

In this work, we implement the finite-field (FF) method for isotope shift (IS) calculations within the relativistic multiconfiguration Dirac–Hartree–Fock (MCDHF) framework of the GRASPG program package. The implementation is benchmarked using the ten lowest-lying fine-structure levels of B II by comparing FF results for the IS parameters with first-order perturbation theory (PT) results obtained using the RIS4 program. The relative deviations for the IS parameters are within 0.03%, and the computed transition isotope shifts agree with previous theoretical predictions and experimental measurements within the reported experimental uncertainties. Additional calculations for Ar XV further confirm the consistency between the FF and PT methods for heavier ions, and the resulting isotope shifts are consistent with the experimental values. This implementation therefore provides GRASPG with two equivalent and reliable approaches for isotope shift calculations.

Background: Neonatal open-heart surgery induces profound oxidative stress, yet its perioperative dynamics remain incompletely characterized. This study quantified urinary 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and 8-isoprostane as markers of oxidative damage, and plasma α1-microglobulin (A1M) as an endogenous antioxidant, while exploring the influence of pre- and intraoperative factors. Methods: In a prospective cohort of 40 term neonates with critical congenital heart defects undergoing open-heart surgery, serial urinary and plasma samples were collected perioperatively. Biomarker concentrations were analyzed using mixed-effects regression models to assess associations with postnatal age, sex, preoperative oxygenation, oxygen surge at bypass initiation, and cell-free hemoglobin in the prime solution. Results: Urinary 8-OHdG and 8-isoprostane increased following bypass separation; 8-OHdG remained elevated through postoperative days 0–2, while 8-isoprostane returned toward baseline by day 1. Plasma A1M declined at bypass initiation, recovered to preoperative levels at separation, and rose thereafter. Females exhibited higher A1M concentrations throughout. Longer time to surgery was associated with greater preoperative oxidative stress, and lower preoperative arterial pO2 correlated with increased 8-isoprostane at bypass separation. No statistically significant associations were identified between intraoperative variables and biomarker levels, although the study was designed to be a hypothesis generating study and not powered to detect modest intraoperative effects. Conclusions: This exploratory study delineates distinct perioperative trajectories of oxidative stress and antioxidant response in neonates undergoing open-heart surgery, with surgical timing, preoperative hypoxemia, and sex emerging as relevant associations. No statistically significant associations were identified between intraoperative variables and biomarker levels; however, the study was hypothesis-generating in design and not powered to detect modest intraoperative effects.

High-throughput firewall telemetry increasingly demands real-time interpretation from short, dense observation windows rather than long historical baselines. We operationalize behavioral slicing, a privacy-preserving approach that extracts interpretable micro-behavioral signals—timing irregularities, destination dispersion (entropy), and intensity cues—from sub-minute traffic segments. This study does not claim confirmed intrusion detection. Instead, it evaluates whether short-window firewall telemetry can support privacy-preserving candidate triage under high-throughput conditions and quantifies the limits, feature stability, detector complementarity, and real-time feasibility of such a pipeline. Our case study uses a real operational firewall telemetry slice that was irreversibly anonymized prior to analysis. Using unsupervised outlier detection with explainable summaries, the slice-level pipeline produces investigation-oriented anomaly candidates for triage, without making longitudinal routine or habit claims. Synthetic anomaly injection is used only for relative validation, while behavioral findings are derived from the real telemetry slice. Scenario-level ablations show strong separation for scanning and exfiltration but weak performance for low-variance C2 beaconing, indicating that behavioral slicing should be treated as a triage pre-filter rather than a universal detector. In the context of IoT and edge-network monitoring, firewall telemetry can be treated as a high-rate network sensing stream that reflects device-level communication behavior under operational constraints. Overall, results support behavioral slicing as an operationally feasible pre-filtering and triage method under extreme network load, with clear trade-offs and limits.

A growing body of research has highlighted the role of personality-related vulnerabilities in child-to-parent violence (CPV), and recent studies suggest that narcissistic traits may be one relevant factor. Yet existing research has focused almost exclusively on grandiose narcissism, while vulnerable narcissism has rarely been examined. This study investigates associations between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and three forms of CPV—verbal aggression, coercive behaviour, and physical aggression—in a large community sample of Swedish adolescents. Gender-stratified logistic regression models were estimated, adjusting for individual and family-related factors. Vulnerable narcissism showed consistent associations with CPV, especially among girls, where effects remained significant across all CPV forms after adjustment. Grandiose narcissism showed weak or no associations once vulnerability was controlled for. The findings suggest that CPV may be more closely linked to the emotional insecurity and sensitivity to ego threat that characterise vulnerable narcissism, and that both dimensions warrant attention in future research.

Cerebrovascular disorders, encompassing conditions such as stroke, aneurysms, and arteriovenous malformations, are often associated with developmental malformations of the intracranial arterial system, including the circle of Willis. The circle of Willis plays a crucial role in establishing a collateral vascular network essential for ensuring adequate cerebral blood supply. However, the intricate process of human intracranial vascular development, known as vascular neuroembryology, remains complex and incompletely understood. The diverse array of anatomical vascular variations observed in clinical practice is a direct outcome of this developmental process. We present a chronological overview of human neurovascular embryology using stage-resolved three-dimensional reconstructions of the developing intracranial arterial system. Histological sections of 26 human embryos ranging from Carnegie stages (CS) 11 to 23 were digitally reconstructed and manually segmented in Amira software (versions 5.3–5.6; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) to generate detailed 3D models of the cranial vasculature and adjacent anatomical structures, including the neural tube, cranial nerves, eye, and ear. Sequential 3D reconstruction revealed progressive remodeling of the primitive cranial vasculature and key developmental transitions underlying formation of the circle of Willis. By integrating these developmental observations with existing embryological literature, we refine current models of neurovascular development, with particular emphasis on the ophthalmic and trigeminal arterial systems. These findings provide an updated developmental framework for interpreting normal and variant intracranial vascular anatomy encountered in clinical practice.

This paper explores a theoretical framework called "recollecting"for Participatory Design (PD) with collectives to support coexistence in times of uncertainty and polarisation around climate crises. It offers a PD concept and design approach that engages with the memories of hybrid collectives of humans and more-than-human actors within transitions of their built and natural environment, foregrounding collective memory as a political and relational process, central to shaping regenerative futures. In contrast to dominant strategies for dealing with climate challenges that emphasise technical solutions and material flows, we argue that meaningful transitions require practices of remembering - ritualised, situated, and affective - embedded in local ecologies and histories. We examine three case studies across Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden where PD researchers collaborated with local governments and communities to reimagine relations among people, places, and more-than-human actors. Through these cases, we identify three interwoven dimensions of recollecting: "orienting"towards attachments and past relations, "actualising"memory to shift power dynamics, and "archiving"as co-creating dynamic repositories of collective memory that enable continuity, reflection and action across time and actors. Our findings suggest that recollecting can support transitions not only by regenerating ecosystems, but also by reshuffling social and ecological inequalities. Ultimately, we argue that designing with collectives offers pathways toward addressing regenerative futures grounded in recognition, care and solidarity.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) of skin cancer relies on the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), but experimental systems that accurately model photodynamic reactions are limited. The aim of the present in vitro study was therefore to develop and validate a model system enabling mechanistic investigation under controlled conditions. We combined a split-thickness skin membrane with a monoolein-derived bicontinuous cubic liquid crystalline phase containing the endogenous photosensitiser protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) to form a tissue model. Light irradiation was used to activate the PpIX, and the resulting decrease in oxygen concentration, associated with ROS formation, was monitored in real time using a Clark electrode. Electron spin resonance was employed for singlet oxygen detection. Incorporation of PpIX did not affect the structural properties of the cubic phase within the tested concentration span. Spectroscopic measurements indicated that PpIX dissolves in the lipid matrix, although optical microscopy revealed particle aggregation at concentrations above 400 μg/g. Fluorescence microscopy demonstrated a concentration-dependent increase in signal up to 400 μg/g, followed by a plateau consistent with aggregation. Real-time monitoring of oxygen depletion, expressed as the total decrease in oxygen concentration during irradiation, showed a concentration-dependent increase up to 3 μg/g PpIX, beyond which a plateau was observed. In contrast, kinetic analysis demonstrated increasing oxygen consumption rates up to 400 μg/g. The inclusion of a split-thickness skin membrane maintained oxygen depletion associated with ROS formation and allowed reliable monitoring of the photodynamic response under the investigated conditions. Electron spin resonance provided independent evidence that the PpIX concentration-dependent oxygen depletion observed during irradiation was associated with increased singlet oxygen formation. In conclusion, the proposed system provides a stable in vitro platform for studying photodynamic reactions and the influence of photosensitiser concentration under controlled conditions, offering mechanistic insight into PDT-related processes.

Silver is an important light neutron-capture element whose stellar abundances can help constrain the origin of the weak r-process. The Sun is an important reference point for such studies; moreover, being a moderately volatile element in CI chondrites, the solar silver abundance is interesting as a diagnostic for the debated Sun-CI abundance versus condensation temperature trend. These studies require accurate silver abundances that go beyond the commonly used assumptions of one-dimensional (1D) atmospheres and local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE); however, no consistent 3D non-LTE analysis of silver has been available to date. We present a new Ag I model atom built from carefully curated radiative and collisional data, including newly computed oscillator strengths using an ab initio multi-configurational Hartree-Fock method and inelastic hydrogen collision rates based on a combined asymptotic and free-electron-model approach. We assessed modelling uncertainties via targeted sensitivity tests, finding the results to be most sensitive to the hydrogen-collision data. Applying the model to the solar Ag I 328 and 338 nm resonance lines, we find severe positive-abundance corrections from coupled 3D and non-LTE effects. Using revised equivalent-width measurements, we derive a recommended solar 3D non-LTE silver abundance of log εAg = 1.15 ± 0.08. This is an increase of 0.19dex relative to the current reference value. Our ab initio model significantly reduces the discrepancy with the meteoritic value from 0.25 to 0.06 dex; moreover, this residual offset is consistent with what was recently reported for other moderately volatile elements. The Sun provides the benchmark test for the first silver non-LTE model atom presented here. In subsequent work, this model will be applied to determine 3D non-LTE silver abundances in metal-poor dwarfs and giants, enabling improved constraints on Galactic chemical evolution and weak r-process nucleosynthesis.

A fundamental disconnection exists between system developers (who need concrete and measurable requirements) and other stakeholders like users and authorities (who, in various ways, seek to interact with the system). Users' ethical views are often subjective and contextual, while authorities must monitor and enforce regulations over systems. This gap creates a "developer's blind spot", where systems are not designed in a way that enables stakeholders to understand and evaluate their ethical qualities. The core issue is a lack of practical guidelines for operationalizing abstract ethical values into observable system characteristics. This vision paper addresses the issue by identifying key challenges and proposing a vision for future research. The goal is to support developers in designing systems that expose their ethical dimensions, allowing users and authorities to apply their own interpretations and make informed decisions. By enlightening this blind spot, developers can better satisfy the needs of all stakeholders, enabling personal ethical evaluations by users and proper oversight by authorities.

Although software ecosystems have been around for decades, the emergence of generative AI (GenAI) and Agentic AI is significantly changing the nature of software ecosystems. AI allows for individuals and organizations to replace human actors with AI agents that act on behalf of humans or organizations, but without human involvement. This leads to fundamental shifts in how ecosystems function and evolve. In this paper, we explore the trend of moving towards GenAI and Agentic AI in software ecosystems, the implications this will have in practice and we hypothesize on how this will likely evolve in a context where some agents in the ecosystem are human and others are AI driven. As the basis for our discussion, we provide examples from multiple companies in the software-intensive domain that are all exploring the potential of AI in software ecosystems. The key contribution of the paper is a conceptual model in which we outline the steps we believe companies will move through when evolving towards AI-driven ecosystems.

Background: CBCT is increasingly used to assess alveolar bone in orthodontic patients; however, reliability and agreement for detecting changes in follow-up assessments remain uncertain. This study evaluated the reliability and agreement of linear marginal alveolar bone level measurements, and agreement in detecting fenestrations in CBCT volumes acquired from different units before and after active orthodontic treatment in adolescents, using a multiplanar reconstruction-based measurement protocol for follow-up studies. Methods: CBCT volumes (n = 96) from 48 adolescents (mean age 14.4 years) enrolled in a randomised controlled trial on fixed-appliance treatment for crowding were acquired at baseline and posttreatment using five distinct CBCT units after objective image-quality testing. Buccal and lingual bone levels at the central incisors, canines, and second premolars were measured from the cementoenamel junction to the alveolar crest according to a predefined protocol. Three independent raters performed linear measurements, two assessed fenestrations greater than 2.2 mm, and one repeated all measurements. Reliability was evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficients. Agreement for the bone level measurements was assessed using Dahlberg’s formula and visualised with Bland–Altman plots. Minimal detectable change was calculated per site, and percentage agreement was used for fenestration detection. Results: Intrarater reliability ranged from moderate to excellent at both time points. Dahlberg’s random errors ranged from 0.19 to 0.71 mm at baseline, and 0.19 to 1.07 mm posttreatment. Interrater reliability ranged from poor to good, with random errors ranging from 0.23 to 2.54 mm. Bland–Altman plots revealed minor systematic bias for the intrarater measurements. Minimal detectable changes demonstrated the ability to detect clinically relevant alveolar bone changes. Agreement for fenestration detection was high (intrarater ≥ 81%, interrater ≥ 74%). Conclusion: The protocol demonstrated intrarater reliability and agreement suitable for assessing clinically relevant changes in marginal bone levels and for detecting fenestrations in follow-up studies of adolescents treated orthodontically for crowding without extraction. However, the results were influenced by rater variability and imaging conditions and were most reliable when the assessments were performed by the same rater. Assessment of reliability and agreement under study-specific conditions is recommended. The findings highlight both the potential and methodological challenges of CBCT-based alveolar bone assessments, offering implications for clinical practice and future research in this field. Trial registration: CROWDIT: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05664282).

One of the most transformative developments today is the integration of generative artificial intelligence into the development of critical software-intensive cyber-physical systems. From autonomous vehicles to industrial robotics, these systems are entering a new era shaped by artificial intelligence-driven development and automation. In this paper, we consider software engineering, artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence ethics, and social aspects, to explore how such technologies can be harnessed safely, transparently, and with human values at the center. Our contributions include a vision for software engineering, guiding the engineering of future trustworthy safety-critical cyber-physical systems under the influence of generative artificial intelligence. We critically analyze how three established certification principles can be leveraged to cope with the societal and technical tensions introduced by generative artificial intelligence adoption, and propose a research and practice agenda to ensure that future cyber-physical systems development and operations cycle remain trustworthy, both from a system (hardware and software) and from a societal perspective.

Denna studie undersöker hur generativ AI kan integreras i bildundervisning genom en didaktisk modell för en AI-medierad kreativ process. Studien utgår från ett sociokulturellt perspektiv där AI förstås som en medierande artefakt i elevers lärande och skapande. Med en kvalitativ och explorativ forskningsansats genomfördes en undervisningsintervention i en klass i grundskolans senare år. Datamaterialet består av klassrumsobservationer, elevproducerade bilder och elevreflektioner, vilka analyserats tematiskt med fokus på idéutveckling, kritisk bildanalys och kreativ transformation. Resultatet visar att AI kan fungera som ett stöd i elevers idéutveckling genom att visualisera och konkretisera visuella intentioner. Samtidigt framträder en risk att AI-genererat material uppfattas som färdigt och okritiskt accepteras. Genom undervisning som explicit fokuserar på kritisk bildanalys utvecklar eleverna en ökad förmåga att identifiera visuella avvikelser och reflektera över AI:s begränsningar. Studien visar vidare att den kreativa processen förändras i den tredje fasen, där eleverna i ökande grad omformar och transformerar det AI-genererade materialet genom eget skapande. I denna fas framträder elevens agens tydligare, medan AI får en mer stödjande snarare än styrande funktion. Den didaktiska modellen framträder därmed inte som en linjär struktur, utan som ett flexibelt ramverk som utvecklas i relation till undervisningspraktiken. Studiens resultat indikerar att kreativitet och kritiskt lärande i en AI-medierad kontext utvecklas genom växelverkan mellan generering, analys och transformation snarare än genom teknologin i sig. Sammantaget visar studien att lärarens didaktiska stöttning är central för att elever ska utveckla en aktiv, kritisk och reflekterad användning av AI.

This paper discusses immersion from the perspective of dance. It presents a two-stage argument: (i) arguing for immersion to be understood through bodies rather than spaces, and (ii) critiquing AI based on recent choreographic works using AR, MR, XR. The specific functions of AI to be examined are pattern recognition and content generation applied to the bodies of dancers or audience members. An approach called "Anteriority and Interiority for Artificial Intelligence" ("AI for AI") is proposed, where interiority supports somatic engagement and anteriority opens to historical and environmental awareness. Anteriority and Interiority are mutually informing modes of attention contributing to a creative and critical stance on immersion in dance, with relevance both to the artistic creation of such work and to its reception by audiences or participants. Following a theoretical grounding in technoskepticism and counterintuition, the paper demonstrates the approach by reflecting on aspects of several immersive dance works. The conclusion proposes that AI for AI might be applied to AI's impact on bodies in wider social, cultural, and environmental contexts.

Stellar abundance analysis relies on flexible, high-performance spectral synthesis. To meet these needs, we present PySME v1.0, an updated Python implementation of Spectroscopy Made Easy (SME) designed for precise and survey-scale modelling of stellar spectra. A central challenge in SME-based synthesis is the efficient treatment of very large line lists, including both the pre-selection of negligible lines and the subsequent formal synthesis. PySME v1.0 introduces a revised line-selection framework based on opacity ratio and line depth, together with dynamic line-list construction and control of the effective wavelength span over which each line contributes to the synthetic spectrum. These workflows support parallel preprocessing of weak-line selection and reduce the line list passed to the synthesis core, thereby improving scalability while preserving synthetic accuracy. PySME v1.0 also incorporates an updated equation-of-state treatment that improves the modelling of hydrogen lines (particularly Balmer features) while maintaining close agreement with previous SME results for metal lines. The Python interface has been further extended to support parameter-dependent derived quantities updated during optimisation, and PySME provides non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) departure-coefficient grids for 17 elements. Together, these developments establish PySME v1.0 as a robust and efficient framework for high-precision stellar abundance analyses in large spectroscopic surveys.

INTRODUCTION: Parkinson's disease (PD) is typically assessed during short clinical visits using rating scales such as the Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS). These assessments provide only a snapshot of symptom severity and may not capture fluctuations in daily life. In this study, we examined whether wrist-worn actigraphy can be used to estimate MDS-UPDRS scores in people with Parkinson's disease (PwP).

METHODS: Continuous accelerometer recordings at 25 Hz were collected over up to 28 days using GeneActiv devices. From these recordings, three feature representations were derived: non-embedding actigraphy features, self-supervised accelerometer embeddings, and a combined feature set. A small set of regression models was evaluated using strict leave-one-participant-out cross-validation (LOPO-CV).

RESULTS: Estimation performance varied across targets and feature sets. The strongest result was observed for MDS-UPDRS Part IV, where non-embedding features with Elastic Net achieved a mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.6 and a correlation of 0.83 between estimated and actual values. The combined feature set performed best for Part I (MAE = 3.0, r = 0.60), Part III (MAE = 8.2, r = 0.47), and the total MDS-UPDRS score (MAE = 13.3, r = 0.49), whereas non-embedding features performed best for Part II (MAE = 2.7, r = 0.61). Embedding-only models were competitive for some outcomes, but were not the best overall.

DISCUSSION: Overall, the results show that month-long wrist-worn actigraphy contains information related to PD severity in daily life, although estimation accuracy remains limited and depends on the MDS-UPDRS target. Wearable-derived measures may therefore provide complementary information to clinical assessments, particularly for motor complications.

UNLABELLED: treatment strategies, and prognostic assessments made by dental hygienists in general dentistry, compared with the 1999 classification.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire comprising five patient cases was administered to dental hygienists in Sweden on two separate occasions. For each case, diagnoses, treatment plans, and prognostic assessments were proposed, first using the 1999 and subsequently the 2018 classification. Cases ranged from no marginal bone loss attributed to periodontitis and few (<10%) bleeding sites to marginal bone loss >30% and generalized inflammation (>30%). Answers from the two occasions were compared.

RESULTS: A total of 142 dental hygienists completed both questionnaires. Diagnostic assessments changed significantly in three of the five cases when using the 2018 classification (p < 0.05). In four cases, fewer treatment sessions were recommended, and more optimistic prognostic assessments were made when using the 2018 classification (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: The 2018 classification resulted in greater variation in proposed diagnoses in cases without clear attachment loss and was associated with fewer recommended treatment sessions and more optimistic prognostic assessments. However, it appeared at least as effective as the 1999 classification in identifying cases with periodontitis.

INTRODUCTION: Physical activity (PA) intensity can be expressed in absolute terms (metabolic equivalents, METs) or relative to individual capacity (percentage of maximal oxygen consumption, VO₂max), and these two approaches yield markedly different interpretations of health-related PA. This study examined how time spent at absolute and relative PA intensities relates to cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in middle-aged women across a wide fitness range.

METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 73 middle-aged women (38 recreational runners, 35 inactive controls) aged 50-65 years with diverse CRF levels (20-60 mL/min/kg) were assessed. CRF was assessed through maximal cycle ergometer testing. PA was measured via hip-worn accelerometry for seven days using the 4 Hz frequency extended method. Absolute intensity used traditional METs thresholds (3-6 METs moderate, ≥6 METs vigorous); relative intensity was expressed as percentage of individual VO₂max (46-64% moderate, ≥64% vigorous). Associations with CRF were analysed using partial least squares regression and cumulative intensity thresholds.

RESULTS: The active group had significantly higher CRF (41.4 vs. 27.7 mL/min/kg, p < 0.001) and accumulated substantially more vigorous activity (20.6 vs. 0.8 min/day, p < 0.001), whereas the inactive group accumulated more relative moderate intensity, illustrating the "intensity paradox." For absolute intensity, positive CRF associations emerged at approximately 4.5 METs, strengthening progressively and peaking in the vigorous range (>6 METs). For relative intensity, negative associations diminished progressively, reaching equilibrium near 64% VO₂max. The relative intensity model explained 70% of CRF variance compared to 53% for absolute intensity.

DISCUSSION: In this cross-sectional sample, traditional 3 METs moderate intensity thresholds appear inadequate for middle-aged women, with significant CRF associations occurring primarily at vigorous intensity. These findings suggest that vigorous intensity should be the primary target when CRF is the desired outcome, and support prescribing intensity relative to individual capacity.

AIMS: To explore patients' fundamental care needs, to which extent they are met and to assess how the care activities of Registered Nurses and assistant nurses are accomplished. A further aim is to investigate their associations with contextual factors in an emergency department setting.

DESIGN: Quantitative exploratory observational study with data collected through structured observations.

METHODS: Seventy-five patients, 30 registered nurses, and 20 assistant nurses were recruited from one emergency department. Structured observation protocols, spot checks, and follow-up dialogues were used. Descriptive and analytical statistics were calculated.

RESULTS: A total of 812 fundamental care needs were observed: physical (45%), psychosocial (38%), and relational (14%). The prevalence of missed nursing care was 20% and was more prevalent among older patients, those receiving care in shared spaces, and during crowding. In total, 3797 care activities were observed. Medical/technical activities were implemented at a higher rate than integration of care activities; unlike the latter, higher rates were significantly associated with crowding, the surgical section, and registered nurses compared to assistant nurses.

CONCLUSION: Missed nursing care was more prevalent among older patients and those in shared spaces or during crowding. The increased rate of medical/technical care activities was associated with crowding, whereas the integration of care activities remained unchanged.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND PATIENT CARE: Fast-track solutions robust to crowding could reduce missed nursing care among older patients. Staff and management should critically assess physical layout in relation to crowding and missed nursing care. Crowding is a system-level phenomenon representing a significant driver of missed nursing care in the emergency department, and responsibility for addressing this decline in care quality must be acknowledged at system and policy levels.

IMPACT: This study provides evidence of how organizational conditions shape nursing care delivery in emergency departments and will inform interventions to improve care quality and safety.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: None.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to investigate the association between baseline moderate-to-severe periodontitis and all-cause mortality over a 23-year follow-up among individuals aged 60 and 66 years.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This longitudinal study was based on data from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Karlskrona, Blekinge, Sweden. A total of 340 participants aged 60 and 66 years old at baseline (2001-2003) who underwent periodontal and radiographic examination were included. Baseline data on age, sex, number of medications, smoking status, cash margin, and education were collected.

RESULTS: At baseline, 16.2% of participants had moderate-to-severe periodontitis. During the 23-year follow-up, 52.7% of participants with moderate-to-severe periodontitis died. In the adjusted survival analysis, moderate-to-severe periodontitis was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio = 1.56; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.00-2.44, p = 0.050).

CONCLUSIONS: Over 23-year follow-up, baseline moderate-to-severe periodontitis was associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality among individuals aged 60 and 66 years. However, although the association was statistically significant, any sex-specific findings should be considered exploratory due to the limited number of events and the resulting wide CIs.

OBJECTIVE: This cross-sectional survey aimed to assess oral health in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) living in Austria.

METHODS: Data collection was conducted with an online questionnaire, including when possible validated tools, covering general medical history, socioeconomic factors, IBD-related parameters, and various oral health parameters, that is, tooth loss rate, prevalence of severe periodontitis, oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL), and presence of oral lesions. The questionnaire was disseminated to the members of the Austrian Crohn's Disease/Ulcerative Colitis Association.

RESULTS: The analysis included the responses of 327 patients (68% female; average age 46 years), 134 with ulcerative colitis (UC) or IBD unclassified, and 193 with Crohn's disease (CD). Based on self-reported data, about 85% of the patients reported intake of an IBD-related medication and about two thirds of the responders reported some IBD activity in the past 12 months. Approximately 24% of the patients had < 20 remaining teeth, 34% had severe periodontitis, and 7% reported poor OHRQoL. IBD diagnosis did not affect the odds for having < 20 teeth or self-reported severe periodontitis, but patients with CD presented more frequently with poor OHRQoL. In addition, patients with CD received more frequently information from their physician on the possibility of oral lesions due to IBD; however, > 50% of all patients indicated not having any problems with oral lesions.

CONCLUSIONS: Oral health remains inadequately addressed in patients with IBD despite the significant need for dental care. Hence, treating physicians should motivate patients with IBD to inform their dentist about their diagnosis and to maintain regular dental checkups.

Although Denmark is often regarded as a forerunner in terms of gender equality, Denmark still has no dedicated gender studies departments. Departing from this puzzling fact, this article asks how researchers working in Denmark understand, analyze, and investigate gender and gender structures in Denmark. We conduct a hermeneutic literature review, focusing on research produced between 2008-2023, and demonstrate that most research analyzing gender in Denmark belongs to four broad theoretical categories organized around institutional theories, citizenship theories, interactionism, and masculinities. Furthermore, we find some evidence that the absence of gender studies departments in Denmark contributes to an ongoing separation between political science and sociological research investigating similar topics. However, we show that the traveling concept of intersectionality unites research analyzing gendered inequalities in Denmark but note that authors seldom understand or use intersectionality in the same way. The article concludes by arguing that although the use of intersectionality has enriched research examining gender in Denmark, enabling research to illuminate different inequalities, research must also better account for the specificities of the Danish welfare state to understand the operation of power and continuing gender inequality in Denmark.

While research consistently associates right-wing populism with nostalgia, few researchers have explored how ordinary populists express their longing for an idyllic past. Based on a series of focus groups with right-wing populist party voters in Denmark, this article investigates how ordinary populists creatively rework and combine diverse elements of Danish cultural repertoires to form a cultural repertoire of populism that is primarily characterized by nostalgia. I demonstrate that this repertoire arises as populists attempt to understand feelings of dislocation, leading them to idealize the society of their childhood and unfavorably compare developments in the present with the past. However, I show that a cultural repertoire so saturated with nostalgia cannot solve the problems the participants experience in the present. The article concludes by noting that, within this repertoire, the targets of populism can only expand as ordinary populists find themselves unable to understand change and integrate past and present experiences.

Ethnographers often engage in practices of reciprocity to ensure that research participants receive some benefit for their participation in research. However, practicing reciprocity involves a series of challenges. This article investigates how events during fieldwork that challenge our identities as researchers influence practices of reciprocity. The article argues that understandings and practices of reciprocity change and develop during research, and highlights that the limits of reciprocity are seldom clear. Drawing on examples from an ethnographic study of a social movement in Sweden, I argue that reciprocity requires constant negotiation, and that the choices we make in situations of identity conflict have direct impact on our analyses. The article concludes in noting that while ethnographers may find different balances between their identities as researchers and their other identities, all ethnographers should be explicit about their concrete ethical choices rather than their abstract principles, as these choices determine the research we produce.