I den svenska lagstiftningen (Hälso- och sjukvårdslagen, 1983, 1985) som reglerar hälso- och sjukvårdens verksamhet framhålls humanistiska värderingar. Den vårdideologi som gäller i Sverige är att kunna vårda utifrån en helhetssyn. Sjuksköterskorna som ansvariga för omvårdnad anses behöva förändra sina kunskaper, attityder och värderingar för att detta ska kunna ske (Socialstyrelsens författningssamnling, SOSFS, 1990:15). Detta kan beskrivas som en konflikt mellan hur omvårdnad anses vara och hur den borde vara. Studiens problem tar sin utgångspunkt i yrkesutbildning till sjuksköterska och de påverkansprocesser, i form av uppfattningar av omvårdnad, som möter de studerande i denna konflikt. I den teoretiska utbildningen möts de studerande av omvårdnad som ett vetenskapligt ämne och beskrivs bl a i teorier om hur omvårdnad bör vara. I den praktiska utbildningen handleds studerande av sjuksköterskor in i en yrkesroll som sjuksköterska. Dessa sjuksköterskor har varierande erfarenheter av omvårdnad. Om omvårdnad som den är bl a bestäms av sjuksköterskors uppfattningar måste dessa beskrivas. Hur uppfattningar av omvårdnad "borde vara" och hur omvårdnad "uppfattas vara" är relaterade till varandra och blir viktiga att synliggöra.

Denna undersökning är till sin karaktär deskriptiv. Utgångspunkten för studien är induktiv. Materialet för denna kartläggning har insamlats på olika sätt genom intervjuer, granskning av offentliga dokument som i Sverige reglerar sjuksköterskors ansvarsområde, litteratur med relevans för omvårdnadsutvecklingen i Sverige samt vad fyra omvårdnadsteoretiker över tre decennier beskriver som god vård. Materialet har utifrån ett fenomenograftiskt perspektiv (Marton, 1978, 1981, 1990) analyserats med avseende på vilka kvalitativt skilda uppfattningar det ger uttryck för:

God omvårdnad är något som enbart sjuksköterskor kan ansvara för

God omvårdnad är ett gemensamt ansvar

God omvårdnad är att möjliggöra patientens eget ansvar

Resultatet kan förändra förståelse för omvårdnad som fenomen och utgöra underlag för reflektion och diskussion och möjliggör därmed utveckling av omvårdnad.

Shake-up studies of model systems for adsorbates are presented. The molecule CO adsorbed on transition metal surfaces belong to one of the most studied systems in surface science. The interest is motivated by fundamental questions about the adsorbate-substrate interaction as well as technical applications, such as catalysis. A good starting point in order to get more detailed understanding of the CO-metal interaction is to study the transition metal carbonyls, where CO is coordinated to metal atoms. It has been found that many aspects of the adsorbate systems can be modelled by these molecules. These are the main reasons for studying the molecules Mo(CO)6 and Cr(CO)6, for which results are reported in this thesis.

I den svenska lagstiftningen (Hälso- och sjukvårdslagen, 1983, 1985) som reglerar hälso- och sjukvårdens verksamhet framhålls humanistiska värderingar. Den vårdideologi som gäller i Sverige är att kunna vårda utifrån en helhetssyn. Sjuksköterskorna som ansvariga för omvårdnad, dvs. "nursing", anses behöva förändra sina kunskaper, attityder och värderingar för att detta ska kunna ske (Socialstyrelsens författningssamnling, SOSFS, 1990:15). Detta kan beskrivas som en konflikt mellan hur omvårdnad anses vara och hur den borde vara. Om omvårdnad som den är bestäms av sjuksköterskors uppfattningar måste dessa beskrivas. Uppfattaningar som kan identifieras som den "outtalade grunden" (Marton, 1978, 1981, 1990) för våra attityder, värderingar och handlingar och kan identifieras i allt som uttrycker människors tankeprocesser, från språk till skrift eller handling.

Denna undersökning är till sin karaktär deskriptiv. Utgångspunkten för studien är induktiv. Materialet för denna kartläggning har insamlats på olika sätt genom intervjuer, granskning av offentliga dokument som i Sverige reglerar sjuksköterskors ansvarsområde, litteratur med relevans för omvårdnadsutvecklingen i Sverige samt vad fyra omvårdnadsteoretiker över tre decennier beskriver som god vård. Materialet har utifrån ett fenomenograftiskt perspektiv analyserats med avseende på vilka kvalitativt skilda uppfattningar det ger uttryck för:

God omvårdnad är något som enbart sjuksköterskor kan ansvara för

God omvårdnad är ett gemensamt ansvar

God omvårdnad är att möjliggöra patientens eget ansvar

Resultatet speglas mot ett i Sverige officiellt ställningstagande för vad god omvårdnad borde vara mot en autonom vårdvetenskaps teoretiska referensram (Eriksson, 1991), dvs. "caring", som gestalt mot gestalt.

Kunskapsintresset är att försöka tydliggöra och benämna sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av vård och därigenom förändra förståelse för god omvårdnad som fenomen. Förhoppningsvis kan detta utgöra underlag för reflektion och diskussion för att möjliggöra en utveckling av svensk vård och omvårdnad.

This study concerns nine female journalists and their creation of their professional identity. Their stories have been written down in cooperation with the interviewer and interpreted hermeneutically (Ricoeur). The journalists position in the mass media organization is paradoxical. They are expected to act as defenders of democracy and free speech, but also to obey the "laws" of the mass media organization, such as efficiency and rationality. The thesis is that the paradoxical situation has impact on the creating of the journalists identity, often described in stereotypes such as the Pedagogue, the Storyteller etcetera. The narrative in the stories is contructed with the following elements: the step - into the profession, the confirmation and the repayment. When the journaliss take the step it turns out that everybody, except one, introduces a helper into the story: someone else told them to take the step. This can be interpreted in at least two ways; the helper takes the initiative and thereby reduces the self in the narrative, or he/she helps the journalist not to identify with a rational goaloriented (male) subject who selfconciously chooses journalism in order to changing the world, or at least save democracy, thus providing a possibility to creating another professional identity. The journalists are well acknowledged on their jobs, but the relation to the public is somewhat complicated. Finally a tentative attempt is made to find a concept that may capture their professional identities. The proposed concept is a "post-modern journalist identity", of which point of departure is not the modernist instrumental stereotypes, but the individuals constant creation of being a subject in their own stories, regardless of idols, class or gender.

Waste management of today in Sweden is a complex phenomenonthat demands for a scientific and systematic approach. Thecomplexity is a result of a wide variety of actors,technologies, and impact on the environment, health, and theeconomy. Waste management also has a high relevance withrespect to energy. There are direct connections as e.g. energyrecovery from waste, but also indirect as the systemscomplexity and the environmental and economical impacts.

Helpful tools in the planning of waste management aredifferent types of models of which ORWARE is one. Based onprinciples from Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and complemented witha simple Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) ORWARE can provide somehelp in finding environmentally sound solutions for wastemanagement systems. The model does not answer all questionsraised by practitioners but can still be used for advisorypurposes. The model does not include sociological or politicalaspects but it covers the area of physical flows with impactson environment, society and economy. Other impacts have to beconsidered with other methods.

The experiences from using ORWARE in Swedish municipalitiesduring more than a half decade clearly shows the advantages anddisadvantages of the tool. The model is very flexible when itcomes to the possibility of site-specific adjustments of inputdata and process functions. With help of the model thecomplexity of the studied system can be illustrated by e.g. amap of the number of connections between different types ofinformation. In this way ORWARE supports dialogue betweendifferent stakeholders and collects knowledge in a unique way.On the other hand, modelling such an extensive and complexsystem often leads to errors that takes time to find andcorrect. The model can not be considered as user friendly anddoes not cover all aspects wanted by the society. There arealso educational problems with different time frames and spaceboundaries in the analysis that make the results hard tointerpret.

As there are many similarities between waste management andenergy management, experiences from systems analysis of wastemanagement can be used for planning of more sustainablesolutions in the energy management. That is why it isinteresting to develop the methodology used in ORWARE and adaptit to a partly new area like e.g. energy management. Oneexample of improving the methodology is to extend the number ofimpact categories. Another example is to put the functionsdelivered in focus. ORWARE focuses at the waste managementsystem, and thus "treating waste from a certain area" is onefundamental functional unit. Translated to energy that wouldmean to build a model of the energy supply system. But tooptimise the whole system that delivers a function ought to bea more efficient way to head for sustainability than to studythe supply system and the applications separately. That wouldmean to put the end user functions provided by some kind ofenergy transformation in focus instead.

In systems analysis it is also important to consider thealternatives to different options of technologies or systemdesigns. In order to understand and assess the influence frome.g. waste management and energy on the environment and thesocio-technical system called society, a systems perspective isthus very important. The systems perspective should work at alldecision levels and with a life cycle perspective on thefunction.

Föreliggande licentiatuppsats utgör en kappa som bygger två rapporter. Dessa rapporter, ”Utbildning under uppbyggnad” (Fransson m.fl, 1999a) samt ”Lära av egen kraft” (Fransson m.fl, 1999b) har producerats som ett led i en utvärdering av en av svenska flygvapnets pilotutbildningar.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att ge en översiktlig bild av de överväganden, utgångspunkter och analyser som präglat dessa; att diskutera några av resultaten i ett vidgat teoretiskt perspektiv, i detta fall ett institutionellt perspektiv, samt att diskutera metodernas och teoriernas lämplighet i sammanhanget. De resultat som diskuteras har avgränsats till att beröra exemplet om två instruktörers pedagogiska beteendemönster under en övning i en simulator.

De som förenar de båda bakomliggande rapporterna är det sociokulturella perspektiv de båda utgår ifrån, den etnografiskt inspirerade datainsamlings- och analysmetodiken samt att de bygger på studier i samma utbildningsmiljö. I den första rapporten analyseras empiriska data med hjälp av aktivitetsteori. Som modell för arbetsgången tillämpades metodiken inom den utvecklingsinriktade arbetsforskningen, ”developmental work research”. I den andra rapporten analyseras förutsättningar för lärande genom att betrakta lärande i perspektivet av ett legitimt perifert lärande.

I uppsatsen förs diskussioner bl.a. om att begreppet motsättning, som ingår i den aktivitetsteoretiska begreppsapparaten, effektivt kan bidraga till att fokusera på faktorer eller förhållanden i verksamheten som utveckling och förändring kan utgå ifrån. Motsvarande tydlighet finns inte uttalad inom det institutionella perspektivets begreppsapparat. Vidare konstateras att det finns vissa svårigheter att problematisera relationen mellan det aktivitetsteoretiska perspektivet och det institutionellt perspektivet. En av orsakerna därtill är att institutionsbegreppet i samband med aktivitetsteoretiska analyser förefaller tillämpas utan närmare definition. Utförligare beskrivningar av hur institutionsbegreppet förstås och används förordas för att kunna göra närmare analyser av hur de båda perspektiven kompletterar varandra.

I uppsatsen framhålls den etnografiska metodens tillämpbarhet. En svårighet som kan uppstå när man genomför studier i högteknologiska miljöer påtalas dock. En risk kan finnas att forskaren inledningsvis fascineras av tekniska aspekter, med följd att fokus på de mänskliga aspekterna då fördunklas. Denna effekt bör inte underskattas av forskare.

This work considers behavioral modelling of radio frequency power amplifiers. Due to the use of modern digital modulation methods power amplifiers are nowadays subjected to signals having a considerable bandwidth and a fast changing envelope. This means that traditional quasi-memoryless amplitude-to-amplitude (AM/AM) and amplitude-to-phase (AM/PM) characteristics are no longer enough to describe and model the behavior of power amplifiers, neither can they be successfully used for linearization.

In this thesis, sampled input and output data are used for identification and validation of some block structure models with memory. The time-discrete Volterra model, the Wiener model, the Hammerstein model, and the radial-basis function neural network are all identified and compared with respect to in-band and out-of-band errors. Two different signal types, i.e. multi tones and noise, with different powers, peak-to-average ratios, and bandwidths have been used as input to the amplifier. Two different power amplifiers were investigated, one designed for the third generation mobile telecommunication systems and one for the second generation.

A stepped three-tone measurement technique based on digitally modulated baseband signals is presented. The third-order Volterra kernel were determined from identified inter-modulation products. The properties of the Volterra kernel along certain parts in the three dimensional frequency space were analysed and compared to the Wiener and Hammerstein models.

Lifetime Engineering (or Life Cycle Engineering) is a technical approach for meeting the

current objective of sustainable development. The approach is aimed to turn today’s reactive

and short-term design, management and maintenance planning towards an optimised and

long-term technical approach. The life cycle based management and maintenance planning

approach includes condition assessment, predictive modelling of performance changes,

maintenance, repair and refurbishment planning and decisions. The Life Cycle Management

System (LMS) is a predictive and generic life cycle based management system aimed to

support all types of decision making and planning of optimal maintenance, repair and

refurbishment activities of any constructed works. The system takes into account a number of

aspects in sustainable and conscious development such as human requirements, life cycle

economy, life cycle ecology and cultural requirements. The LMS is a system by which the

complete system or parts thereof, works in co-operation or as a complement to existing

business support systems. The system is module based where each module represents a subprocess

within the maintenance management process. The scope of this thesis is focused on

development and adaptation of the predictive characteristic of LMS towards a presumptive

user. The objective is to develop and adapt a Service Life Performance Analysis module

applicable for condition based Facility Management System in general and for condition

based Bridge Management System in particular. Emphasis is placed on development and

adaptation of a conditional probability based Service Life Performance Analysis model in

which degradation models and Markov chains play a decisive role. The thesis deals also with

development and adaptation of environmental exposure data recording and processing, with

special emphasis on quantitative environmental classification in order to provide a simplified

method of Service Life Performance Analysis.

There are several methods to evaluate the environmental performance of new technologies. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the methodological development of environmental assessments, with contributions from life-cycle assessment (LCA), theories on technical change and socio-technical scenarios. LCA, or ‘well-to-wheel studies’, is a widely used tool for evaluating the environmental performance of alternative transport fuels. However, the methodology is usually not adapted to answer questions regarding strategic technology choice. Suggestions are presented that could increase the usefulness of LCA in this respect. A ‘net output approach’ is used, where fuels are used for their own production and distribution. Background system changes and the size of byproduct markets are studied, and it is shown that these factors can have a large influence on the results. Studies of LCA type can be used to give information on which fuels that have a low environmental impact today, and which are promising in the long run. However, it is suggested that also dynamic processes of technical changed need to be taken into account in the selection of technologies. In a study of the history of alternative transport fuels in Sweden, we show that also short-term options can contribute to the development towards more promising long-term options. Investments in alternative fuels during the years have not only resulted in physical artefacts and new explicit knowledge, but have also created dedicated actors and changed tacit knowledge and normative rules. Positive feedback loops related to actors, knowledge and rules have created more actors and changed regulation, and an ability of alternatives to survive. At the same time, the growth of some alternatives has favoured others, due to overlaps in socio-technical systems. However, the growth of alternatives is still very much dependent on exogenous factors and policy. The balance between short-term and long-term options in the transition of the transport system is illustrated through the use of socio-technical scenarios. These show that there is a risk that any policy could result in a negative development for renewable alternatives, but they also suggest that there are opportunities for growth. Policy could balance the development in different parts of the system, and make use of short-term options to contribute to more radical changes in the transport system.

The latent-heat-storage capacity in Phase-Change Materials can be used for storing or releasing energy within a small temperature interval. Upon the phase transition taking place in a narrow temperature span, the material takes up or releases more energy compared to sensible heat storage. For an ideal phase-change material, the transition temperature is a single value, but for the most common phase-change materials on the market, used in building applications, the transition temperature is distributed within a temperature range of several degrees.

Integration of phase-change materials in building applications can be effected in several ways, for example by impregnating phase-change materials into porous building materials like concrete, wallboards, bricks or complements of the building structure. Integrating storages filled with phase-change materials makes other implementations, for instance accumulating tanks or envelopes as presented in this thesis, in an air heat exchanger. An appropriate phasetransition temperature of the supposed application is critical to the functionality of the material. For example, in cooling applications, the transition temperature of the material should be a few degrees lower than the requested comfort temperature in the building, and the opposite for heating applications.

In order to assess the thermal properties and the durability of the material, a watercalorimetric equipment was developed and employed in an accelerated testing programme. The heat capacity of the material and in particular possible change in the heat capacity over time, after thermal cycling of the material, were measured. In the thermal cycling of the material from solid to liquid phase, the temperature rise and required energy supply were recorded. The testing programme was undertaken according to control procedures and documents. In order to be able to utilize the heat-storage capacity in the best way, it is necessary to gain knowledge about thermal properties of the material, especially the long-term behaviour of the material and the deterioration rates of the thermal properties.

A semi-full-scale air heat exchanger based on phase-change material was developed and tested under real temperature conditions during the summer of 2004. The test results were used to compare and verify computer simulations made on a similar plant. The air heat exchanger utilises the ambient diurnal temperature swing to charge and discharge the phasechange material. The material tested in the calorimeter and in the air heat exchanger has an estimated phase-change temperature of about 24 °C.

The goal of the research presented in this thesis is to extract features, to filter and get fingerprints from signals detected by infrasound, seismic and magnetic sensors. If this can be achieved in a real time system, then signals from various events can be detected and identified in an otherwise torrent data.

Several approaches have been analyzed. Wavelet transform methods are used together with ampligram and time scale spectrum to analyze infrasound, seismic and magnetic data. The energy distribution in the frequency domain may be seen in wavelet scalograms. A scalogram displays the wavelet coefficients as a function of the time scale and of the elapsed time. The ampligram is a useful method of presentation of the physical properties of the time series. The ampligram demonstrate the amplitude and phase of components of the signal corresponding to different spectral densities. The ampligram may be considered as an analogy to signal decomposition into Fourier components. In that case different components correspond to different frequencies. In the present case different components correspond to different wavelet coefficient magnitudes, being equivalent to spectral densities. The time scale spectrum is a forward wavelet transform of each row (wavelet coefficient magnitude) in the ampligram. The time scale spectrum reveals individual signal components and indicates the statistical properties of each component: deterministic or stochastic.

Next step is to distinguish between different sources of infrasound on-line. This will require signal classification after detection is made. The implementation of wavelet – neural network in hardware may be a first choice. In this work the Independent Component Analysis is presented to improve the quality of the infrasonic signals by removing background noise before the hardware classification. The implementation of the discrete wavelet transform in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is also included in this thesis using Xilinx System Generator and Simulink software.

A study of using infrasound recordings together with a miniature 3-axis fluxgate magnetometer to find meteorites as soon as possible after hitting the earth is also presented in this work.

The knowledge of the dynamic behaviour of a milling process is very important for finding an optimum process window. In today's manufacturing industry the machining parameters are often predicted using experimental data from non-rotating spindles. Many times the predicted machining parameters prove to be ineffective and inaccurate which lead to reduced quality of the machined surface, tool wear, noise or at worst spindle failure. The best way to study the dynamics of the milling spindle is of course to measure the spindle response under actual operating conditions. Laser vibrometry is a non-contact, non-disturbing method commonly used for measurements of vibrations on static objects. The technique offers the possibility to measure vibrations on thin-walled (light), and rotating objects as well as sound fields. However, two major problems occur when measuring on rotating spindles: (1) speckle noise and (2) crosstalk between the vibration components. These two drawbacks make vibration measurements on rotating spindles difficult to interpret. In this Licentiate thesis the principles of laser vibrometry is introduced and the speckle noise and the crosstalk between the velocity components of a rotating spindle is studied experimentally. The rotating spindle is excited by an adaptive magnetic bearing and the response is measured by laser vibrometry and non-contact inductive displacement sensors simultaneously. The work shows that by polishing the measurement surface optically smooth we are able to avoid the speckle noise and the crosstalk problem. By using this approach, the vibrations as well as the roundness of the measured target can be resolved. Hence, the laser vibrometry technique can be used for measuring the spindle dynamics under operating conditions. Measurements on a bowed violin are performed. The chain of interacting parts of the played violin is studied: the string, the bridge and the plates as well as the generated sound field. The string is excited using a rotating bow apparatus and the vibrations from the string transmits to the violin body via the bridge and produces the sound. The measurements on the string shows stick-slip behaviour and the bridge measurements show that the string vibrations transmit to the bridge both in the horizontal and the vertical direction. Measurements on the plates show complex deflection shapes which are a combination of different eigenmodes. The sound fields emitted from the violin were measured and visualized for different harmonic partials of the played tone. However, the visualized sound field obtained by the laser vibrometer is a projection of the sound field along the laser light and the image obtained is a 2D map of the real 3D sound field. This effect is illustrated by measurements of a sound field emitted from three ultrasound transducers.

The ability to understand packaging and how it contributes to the establishment of efficient logistics and the creation of individualised values for consumers is becoming increasingly important. This licentiate thesis stresses the importance of applying a holistic view of packaging in order to be able to understand how to adapt the distribution channel to meet consumer demands. The study focuses on the packaging, the suppliers of packaging and their current relations to the actors in the distribution channel, and how they can develop to play active roles in logistics. The objective of this work has been to explore the potentials for packaging suppliers to work as Network Integrators to increase efficiency and in at the same time contribute knowledge in logistics that will help to bridge gaps in packaging and logistics theory.The research has involved qualitative case studies of packaging and packaging suppliers. The field of logistics is developing rapidly. To examine this in depth, benchmarking studies were carried out, and the way in which this new knowledge can be applied in the packaging industry is discussed. The conclusion of this thesis is that there are gaps in the theory, and this work presents framework to strengthen the packaging and logistics theory. Further this work has identified the Network Integrator, an actor who can play a significant role to create efficiency in logistics.

In decision analysis maximising the expected utility is an often used approach in choosing the optimal alternative. But when probabilities and utilities are vague or imprecise expected utility is fraught with complications. Studying second-order effects on decision analysis casts light on the importance of the structure of decision problems, pointing out some pitfalls in decision making and suggesting an easy to implement and easy to understand method of comparing decision alternatives. The topic of this thesis is such second-order effects of decision analysis, particularly with regards to expected utility and interval-bound probabilities. Explicit expressions for the second-order distributions inherent in interval-bound probabilities in general and likewise for distributions of expected utility for small decision problems are produced. By investigating these distributions the phenomenon of warping, that is concentration of belief, is studied.

For a number of years, manufacturers have increasingly focused on their perceived core competencies and outsourced activities not seen as such. In doing so there are an increasing number of competencies that fall outside the ‘core’ domain but are nonetheless required for effective product and process development. The proposed solution to this problem has been external integration with an emphasis on collaborative product or process development and also the wider concept of supply chain management. It is, however, not always easy to substitute internal competencies with customers’ and suppliers’ capabilities. Many authors have focused on finding the prerequisites for effective external integration and particularly on areas such as trust and power.

This thesis contributes to the literature by extending the concept of absorptive capacity into the manufacturing domain and in the context of external integration. A conceptual framework is developed, where different streams of the literature have been merged into one coherent model. Integral parts of this framework are the concept of absorptive capacity as well as a model of competitive priorities. Competitive priorities have been taken into account as firms differ; what contributes to competitive advantage for one firm may be irrelevant for another.

Three papers are included in the thesis. The first one uses survey data, from a representative sample of the Swedish manufacturing industry, in order to validate the concept of absorptive capacity in the manufacturing sector. The second paper also uses survey data but aims to shed some light on competitive priorities’ impact on both the extent and the outcome of internal and external integration. The third paper describes a case study of a first-tier supplier and aims to illustrate how absorptive capacity in a manufacturing firm may look in practice.

The thesis concludes that the conceptual framework is indeed useful for understanding the challenges of effective external integration. Internal manufacturing competencies may allow a firm to integrate more effectively external sources, but the required competencies may vary from firm to firm. This implies a need for a fit between companies’ competitive priorities, external integration and absorptive capacity. It also implies that companies may struggle to achieve competitive advantage by utilising their customers and suppliers if they do not simultaneously develop appropriate competencies in-house.

The main questions concerning energy technologies today are their economical and environmental impacts. These entities are (at the present) assessed on the basis that operations proceed as newly installed/designed systems, during an assumed working life period. While this is the common way of perceiving energy systems, performance-over-time will change as an effect of (e.g. material) degradation and not solely of different operation scenarios. How and to what extent, is the question that needs assessing in order to evaluate if these changes will jeopardise the intended system performance requirement. In turn, this pro-active assessment and analysis is in line with today’s performance based directives, laws, regulations and concepts; of which the working life is an essential part. The main context of the thesis, is a contribution to the R&D topic on life performance of energy technologies, with papers on a literature review and case study on two system parts: solar collector and ground heat exchanger (borehole); within the energy technology area of combined solar energy technologies/systems utilised in buildings. The thesis specifically presents a general description of requirements on constructed works and their material, components and systems. It also gives an insight to the energy technology R&D and engineering sector, regarding durability and service life assessment methodologies; and also to the durability of constructed works sector, regarding the needs for assessing material degradation in relation to system performance. The case studies presented in the thesis, show how durability of energy technologies may be sought-after, as well as specific knowledge and useful tools, methodologies and test setups for assessing long-term performance of combined solar energy technologies (in this case a solar-assisted heat pump system utilising a building integrated Unglazed Solar Collector and energy storage). The utilisation of solar collectors and heat pumps (primarily for space and domestic tap water heating) has rapidly increased in Sweden during the last decades. Sweden has today the largest heat pump market in Europe. During recent years, there has also been an increased interest in heating systems that combine heat pumps with solar collectors (glazed and unglazed) and energy storages; with the aim of attaining a system that provides higher energy and greater economical performances than individual solar collector or heat pump systems. If these systems are to be successful they must be economically feasible; placing emphasis on the cost, durability and performance of the system. The main issue on life performance of energy technologies is how and to what extent, performance reduction in individual materials and components influences the overall system performance; as the essence of energy system sustainability is system performance.

This monograph describes an empirical study with the overall aim of producing insights about how students experience the subject Computer Science and its learning environments, particularly programming and software engineering.

The research takes a start in the students' world, from their perspective, using their stories, and hence, we have chosen a phenomenographic approach for our research. By interpreting the students' descriptions and experiences of various phenomena and situations, it is possible to gain knowledge about which different conceptions students can have and how teaching and the learning environment affect their understanding. In this study, we focus specifically on students' conceptions of aspects of object-oriented programming and their experiences of problem solving situations in connection with object-oriented system development.

The questions posed enlighten and focus on the students' conceptions of both tangible and abstract concepts; the study investigates how students experienced a task concerning development in a specific software system, how they conceived the system itself, and how the students describe the system's plugin modules. Academic education in programming deals with abstract concepts, such as interfaces in the programming language Java. Hence, one of the questions in this study is how students describe that specific abstract concept, in a context where they are conducting a realistic software engineering task.

The results show that there is a distinct variation of descriptions, spanning from a concrete to-do list, to a more advanced description where the interface plays a crucial role in order to produce dynamic and adaptive systems. The discussion interprets the results and suggests how we can use them in teaching to provide an extended and varied understanding, where the educational goal is to provide for and strengthen the conditions for students to be able to learn how to develop and understand advanced software.

Syftet med den forskning som presenteras i denna avhandling är att bidra till ökad kunskap om hur ledarskap kan praktiseras för att främja både medarbetarnas hälsa och organisationers kvalitetsarbete. Tre forskningsfrågor är ställda: 1.Hur relaterar ledarnas värderingar till ledarnas beteende samt aspekter av hälsa och kvalitet?2.Hur relaterar ledarnas beteende till aspekter av hälsa och kvalitet?3.Hur relaterar ledarnas arbetssätt till aspekter av hälsa och kvalitet?Forskningen baserar sig på två fallstudier. Fallstudie I berör tre framgångsrika arbetsplatser som fått utmärkelsen Sveriges bästa arbetsplats. Fokus i denna fallstudie är huvudsakligen på de arbetssätt som används. Fallstudie II avser åtta arbetsplatser i Jämtland och det är särskilt värderingar, beteenden och arbetssätt som har studerats. Rörande ledarskap är Teori X och Teori Y använd som teoribas för att studera ledarnas värderingar. Den tredimensionella ledarbeteendeteorin (förändring, uppgift, relation) är använd när ledarnas beteende mäts och diskuteras. Både kvalitativa och kvantitativa metoder är använda i forskningen. Ledare med X-inriktning på ledarvärderingarna har lägre resultat när medarbetarna värderar organisationens kvalitetsaspekter och samtliga tre dimensioner rörande ledarbeteendet. Vissa indikationer finns att organisationer med Y-orienterade ledare har medarbetare med bättre hälsa. Den ledarskapsprofil som har de bästa resultaten rörande kvalitetsaspekter och hälsoutfall har höga värden på alla tre dimensioner med högsta värdet på relation, följt av förändring på liknande nivå samt även uppgiftsorienteringen hög men lägre än de andra två dimensionerna. Gemen-samma arbetssätt hos framgångsrika organisationer har identifierats och presenterats. Mönster mellan framgångsrika organisationer i studie I och II har identifierats.

Supply Chain Management (SCM) aims to synchronize the requirements of customers with the flow of materials from suppliers, in order to satisfy the needs of the customers as costefficiently as possible. This has become a difficult task due to several developments in the market, such as increased competition, increased demand variability, increased product variety, increased amounts of customer-specific products, and shortening product life cycles. These developments, due in part to globalization, provide additional management challenges and new practices in which supply chains are designed and managed, and can eventually make the difference between companies staying competitive or not. The overall purpose of this thesis is to investigate how complexity and globalization affect supply chain design and operations. The main emphasis has been on producing descriptive results of the studied phenomenon. This research involves five case studies covering international transportation structures used in SCM, the selection of supply chain strategies in different business environments, and the role of information systems and technology in achieving the objective of SCM. In this thesis it has been concluded that in order to cope with increasingly complex and fragmented markets companies need more differentiated transportation structures, modes, and supply chains. Furthermore, to effectively manage this, information systems and advanced decision support tools are required. In addition, this thesis has shown that current taxonomies for supply chain strategy selection are too simplistic due to three major problems: they mediate that it is a question of choosing one supply chain strategy for the entire company, they regard markets as rather homogeneous, and they link each supply chain strategy to a specific business context. Instead, it has been concluded that in order to better satisfy differing customer needs in various markets it is increasingly necessary to develop a differentiated supply chain strategy by utilizing different manufacturing and delivery strategies concurrently. Thus, a need exists for new taxonomies for supply chain strategy selection which recognize that the markets are becoming more fragmented and complex, that customer preferences differ across customer/market segments, and that there is a need to differentiate the supply chain strategy. This thesis also highlights several requirements of a differentiated supply chain strategy. Firstly, extended supply chain collaboration is required, since a differentiated supply chain strategy will involve more supply chain partners than a traditional supply chain strategy. Secondly, there is a need for more transportation mode alternatives, particularly intermodal, both in supply and distribution operations, due to the fact that differentiation requires diversity. In this thesis, intermodal landbridge freight services are highlighted as one interesting avenue, which could potentially facilitate a more differentiated supply chain strategy. Thirdly, more integrated information systems are needed along with decision support tools. This study illustrates that agent based modeling appears to be an interesting method for developing realistic decision support tools in the context of complex supply chains. An interesting aspect for further research is to investigate how different manufacturing and delivery strategies can be used concurrently in international supply chains. Moreover, there are several requirements and opportunities of a differentiated supply chain strategy, and these have to be investigated further

The trapezius is a muscle of clinical interest due to its susceptibility to chronic work related musculoslteletal disorders. The mechanisms underlying these conditions are not fully understood. A comprehensive and comparative biochemical characterization of the trapezius muscle may reveal particular individual traits that make it more susceptible to chronic work related musculoskeletal disorders. We have examined the suitability and outcome of a proteomic method, two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE), in the analysis of human skeletal muscle. This method allows a simultaneous comparison of large numbers of proteins within a limited pH and molecular weight range. A protocol using the 2D-DIGE method was adapted to human muscle and its repeatability was tested on human vastus lateralis muscle samples from one healthy male donor. The vastus lateralis is the most well studied muscle in the human body and was therefore used as the gold standard. The method was validated using western blot technique. Subsequently, a comparative 2D-DIGE analysis using the validated protocol was conducted on vastus lateralis and trapezius muscle biopsies from five healthy male subjects. Proteins were identified using matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry and immunohistochemistry was performed on serial sections to confirm the findings. The 2D-DIGE method proved to be a good screening tool to further detect biochemical differences between muscles. The comparative study between the trapezius and vastus lateralis demonstrated significant differences in 25 important metabolic and structural proteins. In particular, it showed differences in proteins related to oxidative stress, which may be of specific importance for the susceptibility of the trapezius muscle to work related musculoskeletal disorders. These results provide a baseline for future studies on the trapezius muscle and puts further emphasis on the differences between different types of skeletal muscle.

This thesis examines innovation and design processes in small established companies. There is a great interest in this area yet paradoxically the area is under-researched, since most innovation research is done on large companies. The research questions are: How do small established companies carry out their innovation and design processes? and How does the context and novelty of the process and product affect the same processes?

The thesis is built on three research papers that used the research method of multiple case studies of different small established companies. The innovation and design processes found were highly context dependent and were facilitated by committed resources, a creative climate, vision, low family involvement, delegated power and authority, and linkages to external actors such as customers and users. Both experimental cyclical and linear structured design processes were found. The choice of structure is explained by the relative product and process novelty experienced by those developing the product innovation. Linear design processes worked within a low relative novelty situation and cyclical design processes worked no matter the relative novelty. The innovation and design processes found were informal, with a low usage of formal systematic design methods, except in the case of design processes for software. The use of formal systematic methods in small companies seems not always to be efficient, because many of the problems the methods are designed to solve are not present. Customers and users were found to play a large and important role in the innovation and design processes found and gave continuous feedback during the design processes. Innovation processes were found to be intertwined, yielding synergy effects, but it was common that resources were taken from the innovation processes for acute problems that threatened the cash flow. In sum, small established companies have the natural prerequisites to take advantage of lead-user inventions and cyclical design processes. Scarce resources were found to be the main factor hindering innovation, but the examined companies practiced several approaches to increase their resources or use existing scarce resources more efficiently in their innovation and design processes. Examples of these approaches include adopting lead-user inventions and reducing formality in the innovation and design processes.

Effektförstärkare för radiofrekvensapplikationer utgör fortfarande ett av de största problemen i trådlösa kommunikationssystem. Detta beror på att dessa förstärkare är ickelinjära, har låg energieffektivitet och ger mycket distortioner. Bättre verktyg för att förstå och korrigera dessa beteenden är nödvändiga. Ett sådant verktyg är beteendemodellering. En beteendemodell kanses som en svart låda med insignal(er) och utsignal(er). In detta fall är dessasignaler samplade basbandssignaler och den svarta lådan är en matematisk relation mellan en insignal och en utsignal.

Avhandlingen behandlar några krav för beteendemodellering av nämnda system genom att presentera metoder för utvärdering och förbättring av modellernas prestanda. Detta åstadkoms genom att betrakta ett frekvensviktat felkriterium.

Ett högpresterande mätsystem är också nödvändigt för experimenten. Prestandan hos det tillgängliga systemet jämförs med prestandan hos ett allmänt erkänt mätsystem, en s.k. storsignalsnätverksanalysator, genom att betrakta prestandan hos beteendemodellerna som extraheras och validerasmed data från respektive mätsystem. Resultatet visar att det existerande mätsystemet har god prestanda.

Ett stort problem vid beteendemodellering är att kunna sampla med tillräckligt hög hastighet. Genom att använda Zhu-Franks generaliserade samplingsteorem vid beteendemodellering kan en del av detta problem undvikas. Teoremet medför att man kan sampla med en väsentligt lägre samlingsfrekvens än vad Nyquistteoremet säger. Modeller extraheras och prestandanutvärderas genom att använda kriteriet normalized mean square error (NMSE).

För stabil prediktion och korrektion av utsignalen måste robustheten hos de använda modellerna verifieras. En sådan studie som berör robustheten mot variationer i lastimpedansen har genomförts. Prestandan på direkta modeller försämras med 7 dB mätt som adjacent channel error power ratio (ACEPR). Prestanda på inversmodellen, implementerad som digital predistortion, försämras med upp till 13 dB mätt som adjacent channel power ratio(ACPR).

In this thesis measurement systems for the purpose of characterization of radio frequency power amplifiers are studied. Methods to increase the speed, accuracy, bandwidth, as well as to reduce the sampling requirements and testing cost are presented. A method intended for signal shaping with respect to peak to-average ratio reduction and its effects-improvements on the radio frequency front-end performance is investigated.

A time domain measurement system intended for fast and accurate measurements and characterization of radio frequency power amplifiers is discussed. An automated, fast and accurate technique for power and frequency sweep measurements is presented. Multidimensional representation of measured figure of merits is evaluated for its importance on the production-testing phase of power amplifiers.

A technique to extend the digital bandwidth of a measurement system is discussed. It is based on the Zhu-Frank generalized sampling theorem which decreases the requirements on the sampling rate of the measurement system. Its application for power amplifiers behavioral modeling is discussed and evaluated experimentally.

A general method for designing multitone for the purpose of out-of-band characterization of nonlinear radio frequency modules using harmonic sampling is presented. It has an application with the validation of power amplifiers behavioral models in their out-of-band frequency spectral support when extracted from undersampled data.

A method for unfolding the frequency spectrum of undersampled wideband signals is presented. It is of high relevance to state-of-the-art radio frequency measurement systems which capture repetitive waveform based on a sampling rate that violates the Nyquist constraint. The method is presented in a compact form, it eliminates ambiguities caused by folded frequency spectra standing outside the Nyquist band, and is relevant for calibration matters.

A convex optimization reduction-based method of peaks-to-average ratio of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing signals is presented and experimentally validated for a wireless local area network system. Improvements on the radio frequency power amplifier level are investigated with respect to power added efficiency, output power, in-band and out-of-band errors. The influence of the power distribution in the excitation signal on power amplifier performance was evaluated.

Denna licentiatavhandling behandlar miljöbedömningsmetoder för byggnader. Arbetet bygger på undersökningar analyser, jämförelser och tester av hur miljöbedömningsmetoder bedömer byggnaders miljöprestanda och undersöker även vilka konsekvenser som detta kan ha på arkitektonisk utformning.

Forskningen börjar med att tre miljöbedömningsmetoder, LEED; Code for Sustainble Homes (CSH) och EcoEffect analyseras och jämförs. Sedan genomfös en fallstudie där de tre metoderna testades på ett bostadshus (ett åttavåningar högt bostadshus i Stockholm). Skillnader gällande miljöbedömningsresultat och miljöbedömningmetodernas förslag på förbättringsåtgärder samt eventuell påverkan på den arkitektoniska utformningen analyseras och diskuteras.

En av miljöpåverkanskategorierna som bedöms i de tre metoderna, klimatpåverkan orsakad av gaser med inverkan på den globala uppvärmningen, analyseras sedan mer i detalj utifrån ett livscykelperspektiv genom att mäta byggnaders koldioxidekvivalenter (CO₂ ekv). Ett förenklat beräkningsverktyg (som här benämns ENSLIC-verktyget), som är baserat på livscykelmetodik, används för att studera en byggnad (ett fyra våningar högt kontorshus i Gävle). Sedan beräknas byggnadens påverkan på CO₂ ekv. Effekten av ett flertal föreslagna förbättringsåtgärder på byggnaden samt byte av energikällor analyseras också.

Studierna visar på miljöbedömningmetodernas komplexitet och presenterar olika sätt att göra jämförelser på. Skillnader och likheter mellan metoderna påvisas, gällande hierarkisk struktur och även på varje hierarkisk nivå, från kategorier till enskilda bedömda frågor och parametrar. Dessa skillnader talar för att olika metoder kan påverka den arkitektoniska utformningen av byggnader.

Svårigheten i att bedöma komplexa byggnader belyses även när endast en miljöpåverkan bedöms med det LCA baserade ENSLIC-verktyget. Många saker påverkar resultatet, framförallt energianvändning tillsammans med materialanvändning och val av energikällor. Den komplexa och svåra uppgiften att länka samman byggnader med deras miljöpåverkan öppnar upp för användande av interaktiva verktyg som mäter miljöpåverkan som kan användas som beslutshjälpmedel i tidiga designskeden.

Investing in cluster formation or encouraging companies to network in regional strategic networks is a common strategy used by municipalities to promote regional growth in peripheral regions. Previous research has investigated the significance of creating regional advantages by building clusters and regional networks, but researchers have not provided much insight into the problems facing the project management trying to implement such collaboration. In my thesis I describe and analyze a network project in order to shed light upon some of the complications that such a collaboration project might entail. My theoretical framework of analysis rests upon the concept of social capital, a concept that investigates the value that social contacts might incur.

I have studied a designed network situated in the Swedish municipality of Söderhamn called Firsam. After the closure of the telecommunications factory of Ericsson/Emerson and the military airbase F15 Söderhamn lost 10 % of its local employment in 2004.The need for regional growth programmes therefore became dire. The companies that prior to the closure worked in close collaboration with the Ericsson/Emerson factory were also looking for new revenue streams to compensate for their loss of business. Collaboration with the local manufacturing companies to create innovative projects and to take on joint tenders seemed to be a perfect solution to the problems facing them and the municipality. In this spirit a regional strategic network called Firsam (Företag i regional samverkan) was initiated.

I analyze the Firsam project using two different aspects of the concept social capital:”bonding” and”bridging”. The bonding form of social capital is associated with small and homogeneous groups that build prerequisites for long-term collaboration by forming close contacts and building trust. The bridging form of social capital creates an open stance towards social relations that enables new contacts to be formed outside one’s own socially established context.

The bonding form of social capital provides prerequisites for close collaboration but can also result in close-mindedness and over-embeddedness in one’s own social context. Building bridging connections outside one’s own social context might encourage innovative thinking and spur entrepreneurship. The somewhat fleeting connections that are associated with the bridging form of social capital might on the other hand make it difficult to cultivate a common sense of trust within an existing group.

These different manifestations of social capital create a paradox that might be hard to handle in the design of a regional strategic network. Is it best to support already existing network structures and impose the risk of creating a less innovative environment, or should members from outside the established social context be included in the network design to encourage innovative thinking? There are both positive and negative effects associated with either strategy. I shed light upon this paradox by analyzing the regional strategic network of Firsam.