Search

A microwave tomographic system is used to evaluate the realistic breast phantom developed at the Supelec institute. The system utilizes 16 monopole antennas and a modern vector network analyzer (VNA) to measure the phantoms influence on the S -parameters. An iterative algorithm is then used to solve the inverse problem and reconstruct a 2-D plane transecting the phantom. The reconstructed images are compared to the ones recovered from a cylindrical phantom of equivalent phantom media. The results show that both phantoms are possible to reconstruct, although the interior of the Supelec phantom is more challenging.

Environmental, Social and Governance measurements have significantly increased in usage due to growing concerns for environmental and sustainability problems in today’s world. However, with no commonly agreed-upon criteria for ESG ratings, the scoring measure creates confusion both at the investor and company level. Besides, ESG agencies have different processes and parameters for measuring ESG compliance, which contributes to the problem. The study examines four ESG rating agencies’ rating models and ESG scores to get a better understanding of deviations in ESG scores among Nordic companies. By also studying the correlation amongst ESG scores and market capitalizations in firms, the paper hopes to shed light on if any relationships exist between them. Our results show that the four major ESG raters in the study showed a weak to a non-significant correlation against each other. The maximum correlation found was 0.419 between Thomson Reuters and MSCI. RobecoSAM and MSCI showed the lowest significant correlation at 0.291. Sustainalytics was detected not to show any significant correlation with the other raters. Correlation among market capitalization and ESG Raters was detected to not correlate to a greater extent. Only one ESG rater, RobecoSAM, showed a significant size to score-correlation at 0.278 with market capitalization. Thus, market capitalization does not seem to have any significant influence on ESG agencies’ decisions to set scores. Précising the study’s findings, the raters’ methods deviate from one another, but also how ESG raters make use of underlying factors.

Solar Bora is a company located in Linköping. The company develops and sells solar home systems to countries in Africa, such as Kenya and Mali. The electronics within the system are today mounted in large server cabinets. Solar Bora has a long-term goal to develop and produce a cabinet locally for the electronics. This thesis work aims to create a drawing for Solar Bora of a new kind of cabinet, adjusted for their needs. An investigation was made on how to create a cabinet that could potentially carry off more heat from the surface of the batteries located in the system. The model was then evaluated regarding stress and strain, flow and heat transfer, and price concerning if the model should be manufactured in steel or aluminium. A concept generation was made to retrieve a final concept of how the cabinet could look like. The result of this step was the concept of a fully open cabinet. The concept was then developed as a CAD-model in PTC Creo and due to the choice of manufacture the model in steel or aluminium FEM-analysis, flow and heat transfer analysis, and an economic evaluation was made. The flow and heat transfer calculations showed that the developed model could contribute to carrying off more heat transfer from the batteries than the original cabinet could. However, this improvement was not enough to handle all the heat that the batteries generate at the most. The FEM-analysis showed that construction in aluminium would demand a thicker material compared to steel, if the same demands for stress and strain are acquired. Regarding the flow and heat transfer aspect, it showed that it would not make a big difference if the construction were made of steel or aluminium. Due to an economic aspect, a construction in aluminium would lead to a more expensive construction with a lighter total weight than a construction manufactured in steel. This thesis work led to a final drawing of the developed CAD-model. The final drawing has a purpose of being a first step and starting point for Solar Bora’s future work of introducing their own production of a cabinet. Solar Bora är ett företag i Linköping som utvecklar och säljer solcellsdrivna elsystem till länder i Afrika, i nuläget främst Kenya och Mali. Elektroniken i detta system är i dagsläget monterade i stora serverskåp. Solar Boras långsiktiga mål är kunna producera ett eget förvaringsutrymme till elsystemet, lokalt där det är tänkt att användas. Syftet med detta examensarbete var att ta fram ett ritningsunderlag till Solar Bora på ett förvaringsutrymme som är anpassat utifrån deras önskemål. Det undersöktes hur en modell av ett förvaringsutrymme kan tas fram för att potentiellt kunna avleda mer värmeeffekt från batteriernas yta. Modellen utvärderades sedan i avseende på hållfasthet, värmeöverföring och pris i relation till om den skulle tillverkas i stål eller aluminium. Det utfördes en konceptgenerering för att kunna ta fram ett slutligt koncept av hur förvaringsutrymmet skulle se ut. Konceptgenereringen resulterade i ett koncept av ett helt öppet förvaringsutrymme. Konceptet utvecklades därefter som en CAD-modell i PTC Creo. FEM-analyser, strömnings- och värmetekniska analyser och en ekonomisk utvärdering genomfördes på modellen i relation till om materialet stål eller aluminium skulle användas. Modellen som togs fram visade sig kunna bidra till att mer värmeeffekt från batterierna skulle kunna avledas från batterierna. Däremot visade sig denna förbättring ändå inte vara tillräcklig för att kunna avleda all den värmeeffekt som batterierna i elsystemet genererar som mest. Det framkom också att en konstruktion i aluminium skulle kräva en större materialtjocklek jämfört med stål, om samma hållfasthetskrav vill uppnås. I avseendet av en strömning- och värmeteknisk aspekt visade det sig skilja obetydligt lite mellan den värmeeffekt som avleds via värmeledning i konstruktionen för en stål- respektive aluminiumkonstruktion. Ur en ekonomisk aspekt skulle en konstruktion i aluminium leda till en dyrare konstruktion men betydligt lägre totalvikt än om den skulle tillverkas i stål. Detta examensarbete resulterade i att ett slutligt ritningsunderlag togs fram för den utvecklade CAD-modellen. Ritningsunderlaget är tänkt att verka som ett första steg och en utgångspunkt för Solar Bora att arbeta vidare på för att i slutänden kunna få till en egen produktion av ett förvaringsutrymme.

Since the beginning of man, there has been great technological development. Both the industrial revolution and now, industry 4, are good examples of this. This has led to a big change both in our everyday lives as well as for companies and their daily operations. The paper is based on a series of analyses on different documents from the internet, organization documents and documents from public authorities. This will then in turn be combined with a literature review and traditional theories regarding the topic. The paper concludes that customers' changing purchasing behavior has created a need for change in the retail mar. The changing purchasing behavior is attributed to the digitalization of society and customers' new expectations of the companies. To remain relevant in the market, organizations today must meet customers and their expectations through digital portals in a way that did not exist before.

The purpose of this study is to describe and thereby bring knowledge about how companies’ environmental practices can be expected to be affected by the corona crisis. The results of this study have shown that the corona crisis probably can not be expected to have a major impact on companies' implemented and planned environmental practices, at least not in a Swedish context. The results has also shown indications that companies’ planned environmental practices possibly can be expected to be negatively affected and that companies’ implemented and planned environmental practices possibly can be expected to be positively affected by the corona crisis in a Swedish context. That companies’ environmental practices can be positively affected seems to be further strengthened if we broaden our views and allow us to look beyond the corona crisis.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur artighet i språk kan ha betydelse för andraspråksinlärares motivation och attityd till språkinlärandet. Det faktum att artighet inte finns kodifierat i det svenska språket och att vi sedan en längre tid har anammat du-tilltalet i Sverige, kan ställa till problem för många grupper av andraspråksinlärare som är vana vid att ha språkliga verktyg för artighet i kommunikationen med andra. Genom att utföra en rad i låg grad strukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer med SFI-elever från Latinamerika, har jag försökt få klarhet i hur pass viktigt det är för dem att kunna uttrycka sig artigt på även sitt andraspråk. Med en narrativ ansats har jag tolkat intervjupersonernas berättelser om hur de upplever det svenska språkets avsaknad av artighetsformler och tilltalstitlar och hur de förhandlar för att vidmakthålla takt och identitet i den nya sociokulturella kontexten.

Betaglucan is a polysaccharide found in, for example, oats. Betaglucan has many positive health effects when it comes to keeping down the blood cholesterol and maintaining a stable blood sugar level. As betaglucan is water-soluble, it is interesting to examine how the water content, water activity and the texture are affected by adding betaglucan to wheat bread. In this work, two different concentrations of betaglucan (32% and 75%) have been used, to prepare bread with different final concentrations of 0.2, 0.5, 1.2, and 2.0% , and a bread without beta glucan, to compare if they differ in terms of water content, water activity and texture. The betaglucan concentrations in the breads were analyzed with a quantitative enzymatic assay. According to the results obtained, the water content of the breads increases with increased concentration of betaglucan. As betaglucan binds water the baking time needs to be prolonged with higher concentration of betaclucan in the bread. The water activity was found to increase in the crust of the bread from day 1 to day 7. As different parts of the bread contain different amounts of water, the water wants to reach equilibrium and will therefore migrate from the center of the bread to the crust. No difference in terms of water content, water activity and texture was identified between bread baked with 32% or 75% betaglucan.

Social platforms are becoming an increasingly larger part of everyday life, with many people spending their days sharing information about their lives online. Youtube is a platform based on individual users “broadcasting themselves”, which often means sharing a lot of personal information. This can lead to a sense of closeness, and some viewers develop one-sided relationships through the screen. This study aims to give insight in these one-sided relationships, known as parasocial relationships. Interviews were conducted to get the perspective of Youtube fans as to what motivates them to start, continue and stop watching Youtubers. Using a qualitative research method we have been able to get a deeper understanding of possible patterns concerning the lifecycle of these relationships, such as how and why they begin, continue and end. As earlier research implies we found that parasocial relationships are created and treated in a similar way mutual relationships are. The finding of this study suggest that parasocial attachment is not only normal and common, but that they can provide a kind of social outlet for those who experience them. This study can hopefully be used to understand broader trends in media consumption online.

Background:Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has a major impact on hand function in many patients.Objectives:The objective of this study was to investigate the relation between swelling and tenderness of individual joints in the upper extremities and grip force in patients with early RA.Methods:An inception cohort of patients with early RA (symptom duration ≤12 months), recruited in 1995-2005, was investigated and followed in a structured program. All patients were examined by the same rheumatologist according to a structured protocol, and swelling and tenderness of individual joints was recorded. Grip force (Newton, N) was measured using the electronic instrument Grippit (AB Detektor, Gothenburg, Sweden). Average grip force values of each hand were evaluated and compared to the expected, based on age- and sex-specific reference values from the literature (1). Grip force was expressed as % of expected values. Linear regression analyses were used to assess the relation between upper extremity joint involvement in individual joints and grip force, using the presence/absence of synovitis/tenderness in each joint as covariates. For the multivariate analysis, covariates with p0.3), the covariate with the stronger association in the univariate analysis was included.Results:A total of 215 patients with early RA (71 % women; mean age 60 years) were investigated. The median symptom duration at inclusion was 7 months; interquartile range 5-10. The median 28 joint counts for swollen joints was 7 (interquartile range, IQR 5-11) and for tender joints 4 (IQR 1-9). In univariate analyses, swelling of the wrist, each metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints III and V, as well as tenderness of the elbow, wrist and each MCP and PIP joint were associated with significantly reduced grip force in the right hand. In the left extremity, corresponding associations were observed for swelling of the wrist, each MCP joint and PIP joints I and V, and for tenderness of the wrist and each MCP and PIP joint. In multivariate analysis, wrist synovitis was associated with reduced grip force (β -11.0 and -14.3 % of expected, respectively). There were also independent significant associations for tenderness of MCP IV and the elbow with reduced grip force in the right hand, and for swelling of MCP I and MCP V with reduced grip force in the left hand (Table 1).Table 1.Joint involvement associated with average grip force (% of expected value), multivariate linear regressionUnstandardized β95 % CIRight handSwollen Wrist-11.0-17.5 to -4.5Tender MCP IV-15.6-25.2 to -6.0Tender PIP V-2.3-12.0 to 7.3Tender Elbow-11.7-22.1 to -1.3Left handSwollen Wrist-14.3-20.4 to -7.6Swollen MCP I-7.6-14.6 to -0.6Swollen MCP V-11.7-21.9 to -1.5Swollen PIP I-0.8-9.2 to 7.5MCP: Metacarpo phalangeal jointPIP: Proximal interphalangeal jointConclusion:Involvement of several different joints in the upper extremity contributes to impaired hand function. Clinical synovitis of the wrist was associated with reduced grip force in both hands. In the left hand, arthritis of the thumb had a major impact on grip force. In general, MCP involvement was found to be more important for the grip than PIP involvement.References:[1]Nilsen T et al. Scand J Occup Ther 2012; 19: 288-96Disclosure of Interests:None declared