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Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Coffee Silverskin and Spent Coffee Grounds : Bioenergy and Biochemical Potential
No full textCoffee roasting by-products represent a significant, underutilized side-stream globally. This study investigates hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) as a method to convert these materials into hydrochar, water-rich light oil, and heavy oil. Using HTL at 300 degrees C for 60 min, we evaluated the energy content and properties of the resulting hydrochars, finding energy values exceeding 33 MJ/kg-significantly higher than the 19-21 MJ/kg of the raw materials. Hydrothermal liquefaction of spent coffee grounds produced more hydrochar (18 g) and heavy oil (1.2 g) than silverskin (12-14 g hydrochar and 0.1-0.5 g heavy oil). In contrast, silverskin generated twice as much light oil (9.7 g) as spent coffee grounds (4.6 g). Silverskin hydrochars exhibited higher gross calorific value (Baqu & eacute; 33.95 +/- 0.06 MJ/kg, Mariposa 33.86 +/- 0.07 MJ/kg, Meira 33.22 +/- 0.00 MJ/kg), lower ash content (3-5%), and reduced volatile matter (57-61%) than their raw form. Spent coffee grounds produced hydrochar with the highest gross calorific value (34.27 +/- 0.01 MJ/kg), lowest ash content (0.8%) and the most significant reduction in volatile matter. Light and heavy oils produced were rich in alkaloids, fatty acids, and phenolic compounds, with potential applications in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. This work contributes to both bioenergy production and circular economy strategies, valorising the two main side-streams of the coffee industry. With broad implications for sustainable waste management, this study highlights the potential of HTL to advance global bioenergy goals
Job crafting motives and strategies to increase work-related well-being among healthcare employees
No full textBackground: Employees often change and adapt work to increase the fit of their own goals and needs and resources and demands in work. Crafting a job in this manner can promote well-being at work. Objective This study aims to explore different job crafting strategies that healthcare employees engage in to increase their perceived well-being at work and the motives behind these strategies. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 healthcare employees, including one dental nurse, assistant and registered nurses, and occupational therapists. Interview data was analysed thematically. Results The informants in this study all engaged in crafting strategies that were derived from more than one of four emerging motives. These motives were to craft for their development, for a common good, for meaningfulness in work, and to craft for manageability. Crafting strategies within the different motives included adding tasks beyond the clinical work, developing relations for collaboration with colleagues from other healthcare professions, involving patients when planning their daily work, and developing templates to optimize work. One other strategy to make work more manageable was to choose, at times, to craft less or to not craft at all. Conclusions Job crafters engaged in different crafting strategies, derived from different motives, which seem to change depending on their current work and personal situations. Even though an inner drive for development seemed to overcome constraining working contexts, it is suggested that health-promoting job crafting should be organized through the promotion of ideas and employee-driven initiatives, as well as through cross-professional collaboration
Kartläggning av förluster : I Norrtälje Energis elnät
No full textDenna studie syftar till att kartlägga och analysera tekniska förluster i Norrtälje Energis lokalnät på låg- och mellanspänningsnivå. Ökade krav på energieffektivitet och förändrade förbrukningsmönster, exempelvis från lokalproduktion har gjort det komplext att uppskatta elnätsförluster. Arbetet kombinerar en kort litteraturstudie med simuleringar i Trimble NIS och fallstudier från två nätstationer och en större fördelningsstation samt jämför med fakturerade förluster från överliggande nät. Resultaten visar stora skillnader mellan fakturerade förluster och simulerade förluster. Trimble underskattar förluster med i genomsnitt 38.1\%. Fallstudierna gav tvetydigt resultat. För nätstation T672 visade uppmätt data betydligt högre förluster. För den andra nätstationen som undersöktes hamnade förlusterna inom rimliga gränser, men större delen av timvärdes förluster låg inom mätosäkerhetens gräns för vinterhalvåret. Resultaten för fördelningsstationen som undersöktes visade högre uppmätta förluster under sommarmånaderna vilket inte kunde bekräftas av varken det simulerade eller manuellt från märkdata beräknade resultatet. Vissa tendenser till ökade förluster från hög solcellspenetration identifierades men det krävs mer data för att kunna generalisera dessa. Litteraturstudien visade på hur överdimensionerade transformatorer påverkar förluster vilket delvis kunde bekräftas genom manuellt beräknade förluster från märkdata och strömvärden från elkvalitetsmätare. Slutsatsen är att Trimble underskattar förluster gentemot fakturerade förluster men att resultatet från fallstudierna är osäkert. Fallstudierna tydliggör dock behovet av korrekt nätmodellering, hög mätnoggrannhet och pålitlig datahanteringThis study aims to map and analyze technical losses in Norrtälje Energi’s local electricity network at low and medium voltage levels. Increasing demands for energy efficiency and changing consumption patterns, due to local electricity production have made loss estimation more complex. The work combines a brief literature review with simulations in Trimble NIS, case studies from two distribution substations and one major primary substation, and comparisons with metered losses from the upstream grid. The results show significant discrepancies between simulated and billed losses—Trimble underestimates losses by an average of 37\%. The case studies yielded ambiguous results: measurements from substation T672 indicated considerably higher losses, while the second substation showed results within reasonable limits, although most hourly loss values during the winter months fell within the margin of measurement uncertainty. The investigated primary substation showed higher measured losses during the summer, which could not be confirmed by either simulations or manual calculations based on transformer nameplate data. Some tendencies toward increased losses due to high solar penetration were identified, although more data is needed to generalize these findings. The literature also highlighted how oversized transformers contribute to losses—something that was partially confirmed through manual calculations based on nameplate data and current measurements from power quality analyzers. The overall conclusion is that the results are uncertain except for the underemestation of Trimble simulated losses compared to billed losses. The case studies clearly highlights the need for accurate network modeling, high measurement precision, and reliable data management
Comprehensive and Efficient Assessment of Psychological Flexibility in the Context of Chronic Pain
No full textBackgroundThe Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI) is a measure of all facets of psychological flexibility and inflexibility, potentially important processes of change in psychological treatment for chronic pain. In some contexts, it can be considered too long. The aim of this study was, therefore, to validate a short form MPFI (MPFI-24P) in a chronic pain sample.MethodsAdults with chronic pain were recruited online (N = 404) for a cross-sectional survey study. They first completed pain background questions and the MPFI. For examining convergent construct validity and explained variance in pain-related outcomes, participants also completed the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) Pain Interference Scale, the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), a depression measure. Data were collected on two occasions, 2 weeks apart. Item response theory (IRT) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used for selecting the best-performing items.ResultsIRT parameters were overall adequate, and hierarchical CFA demonstrated a good model fit. Network analysis of the MPFI items indicated that, in general, items intended to measure the same facets were substantially interconnected, more so for the inflexibility items. Temporal stability was adequate, and internal consistency was good. The MPFI-24P correlated with pain interference, work and social adjustment and depression, with the inflexibility scale better predicting these outcomes. The MPFI-24P correlated strongly with the full-length MPFI.ConclusionsThe MPFI-24P for chronic pain is generally valid and reliable, especially the inflexibility scale. It performs similarly to the full-length MPFI.SignificanceThis paper contributes with a measure that is both feasible to use in clinical practice and research, while being able to measure all facets of psychological flexibility and inflexibility-psychological processes of change that are important to evaluate in psychological treatment of chronic pain in order to better individualize treatment
”Man kan känna avsky för brottet och samtidigt gilla personen” : Hur kriminalvårdspersonal som arbetar med sexualbrottsdömda manliga klienter hanterar emotioner i sin yrkesroll
No full textUppsatsen fokuserar på hur kriminalvårdspersonal som arbetar med sexualbrottsdömda manliga klienter upplever och hanterar sina emotioner. Att hantera emotioner i en arbetsmiljö med rutiner och regler kan leda till att personalen undertrycker sina känslor, vilket ökar risken för ohälsa och negativ påverkan på arbetsmiljön. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur kriminalvårdspersonalen balanserar mellan emotionell närhet och distans, samt hur män respektive kvinnor upplever de känslomässiga utmaningarna. Studien bekräftar tidigare forskning och teorier om emotionellt arbete och genusordningar, och lyfter fram betydande emotionella utmaningar som kräver strategier för emotionell reglering och ett starkt professionellt stöd. Studien bidrar med nya insikter om hur könsnormer påverkar kriminalvårdspersonalens emotionella upplevelser och strategier för emotionell reglering, särskilt för kvinnlig personal som ofta möter motstånd från klienter. Studien lyfter även fram den kognitiva dissonans och behovet av emotionell återhämtning som uppstår när personal hanterar grova brott. Behovet av tydliga stödstrukturer, såsom anpassad handledning, framträder också som en viktig del för att säkerställa personalens välmående och hållbarhet i arbetet. Även att arbeta för en ökad medvetenhet om könsnormer som påverkar arbetsmiljön negativt. Uppsatsen utgår från socialpsykologi och emotionssociologi.2025-01-03</p
Small- to Large-Scale Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion of Functionally Graded Steels
No full textThe ability to control process parameters over time and build space in electron beam powder bed fusion (PBF-EB) opens up unprecedented opportunities to tailor the process and use materials of a different nature in the same build. The present investigation explored the various methods used to adapt the PBF-EB process for the production of functionally graded materials (FGMs). In this way, two pre-alloyed powders—a stainless steel (SS) powder and a highly alloyed cold work tool steel (TS) powder—were combined during processing in an S20 Arcam machine. Feasibility experiments were first carried out in a downscaled build setup, in which a single powder container was installed on top of the rake system. In the container, one powder was placed on top of the other (SS/TS) so that the gradient materials were produced as the powders were spread and intermixed during the build. The process was later scaled up to an industrial machine setup, where a similar approach was implemented using two configurations of powder disposal: SS/SS + TS/TS and TS/TS + SS/SS. Each configuration had an intermediate layer of powder blend. The FGMs obtained were characterized in terms of their microstructure and local and macromechanical properties. For the microstructural analysis, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) were performed on the polished cross-sections. This provided evidence of gradual microstructural and compositional transitions in the samples, with a shift from SS to TS and vice versa. Nanoindentation experiments confirmed that there was a consequent gradient in the hardness, stiffness, and wear ratio from the softer and ductile SS to the harder and stiff TS. Scratch experiments revealed gradual evolution in the sliding wear behavior of the printed materials. A “progressive spring” and a “hardness-tailored punching tool” were fabricated as demonstrators. The results obtained demonstrate the great potential to gradually tailor the composition, microstructure, mechanical properties, and wear resistance by combining different powders, and they suggest that any PBF-EB system can be repurposed to build gradient materials without hardware modification. Potential applications include the tooling industry, where hard and wear-resistant materials are needed for the surfaces of tools, with tougher and more ductile materials used in the cores of tools
Gymnasielärares upplevelse av makt och maktutövning i skola och undervisning : En kvalitativ Foucaultinspirerad studie
No full textSyftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka gymnasielärares upplevelse av hur maktutövningen ter sig i skolan och i undervisningen. I undersökningen har en kvalitativ metod använts. För att besvara syftet med undersökningen har fem verksamma gymnasielärare från fyra olika gymnasieskolor i två medelstora grannkommuner norr om Stockholm deltagit i halvstrukturerade intervjuer. Den teoretiska utgångpunkten för uppsatsen är Michel Foucaults teorier om makt. Resultatet från analysen visar att lärarna är mer eniga vad gäller begreppet inflytande än när de talar om maktbegreppet. Dessutom visar det att en stor del av lärarnas maktutövning är att det är de som sätter ramarna för undervisningen och att eleverna kan vara fria inom dessa. Vidare framgår det att makten är relationell och att maktrelationerna är dynamiska, vilket gör att eleverna genom sitt handlande kan påverka graden av friutrymme. Slutligen visar det att lärarna har en god inställning till elevinflytande men att de är flera olika faktorer som påverkar hur inflytandet tar form i skolan och i undervisningen.Godkänt datum: 2025-01-22</p
Adaptive Capacity in a Crisis : Turbulence Managers in Street-Level Organizations
No full textThis study explores the adaptive capacity of managers in street-level organizations (SLOs) in response to global crises. Using a Swedish municipality as a case study, we explore the challenges encountered by managers during the extended COVID-19 pandemic. The abilities required to manage the crisis differ from the challenges and skills typically associated with professional crisis managers. We propose the term ‘turbulence manager’ to describe the unique challenges in SLOs and the skills required to navigate the situation, particularly the delicate balance between crisis management and regular duties. In conclusion, this study emphasizes the crucial role of SLO managers in crisis adaptation, highlighting their ability to mitigate the impact of turbulence by creatively adjusting their existing routines.
‘A question of time and work-situation’ – a cluster analysis of Swedish midwives’ levels of burnout and attitudes towards midwifery continuity of care
No full textBackground: Midwifery continuity of care (MCoC) has been associated with reduced burnout and increased work satisfaction among midwives. Despite these benefits, MCoC is not common in Sweden. Aim: This study aimed to explore midwives’ profiles based on burnout levels and attitudes towards midwifery continuity of care, considering various background and work-related factors. Methods: A national cross-sectional digital survey was conducted among midwives in Sweden. The questionnaire covered the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), attitudes towards MCoC and background variables. Cluster analysis identified a set of profiles, which were then compared by calculating odds ratios and 95 % confidence intervals for various background and work-related factors. Logistic regression examined the factors most associated with each profile. Findings: A three-cluster solution for the 1,983 midwives surveyed was suggested, labelled as Reserved, Visionary, and Sensitive. Midwives in the Reserved cluster exhibited negative attitudes towards MCoC, through negative scores on both components and negative scores on the CBI. Within the Visionary cluster, midwives showed positive scores on the Relational component of MCoC, but negative scores on the Practical and Organisational component and the CBI. In the Sensitive cluster, midwives exhibited the highest scores on the CBI and negative scores on the Practical and Organisational component of MCoC, with just slightly positive scores on the Relational component. Cluster membership was associated with length of work experience (p<0.001) and work domain (p<0.001). Conclusion: Based on the CBI and attitudes towards MCoC, three distinct clusters of midwives were identified, with different factors contributing to membership in each cluster. Understanding how midwives relate to MCoC can facilitate the implementation of the model, potentially improving midwives’ work-related health.