Mid Sweden University
Not a member yet
15329 research outputs found
Sort by
Könsroller och ansvarsfördelningen kring barns skolgång : En kvalitativ studie om hur könsroller påverkar fördelningen av ansvaret för barnens skolgång mellan föräldrar i Sverige och Bosnien-Hercegovina
No full textDenna studie har granskat vilken påverkan könsroller haft i ansvarsfördelningen kring barns skolgång hos föräldrarna. Studien är indelad i två områden där undersökningar utförts i Sverige och Bosnien-Hercegovina. Syftet är att undersöka hur föräldrars ansvarsfördelning kring barns skolgång fördelas mellan könen. Studien kommer att identifiera skillnader och likheter mellan familjer i Sverige respektive Bosnien-Hercegovina. Vidare kommer studien även belysa ifall ett motstånd finns mot det kulturella samt sociala normer som består i könsrollerna för respektive land. Genom att jämföra föräldrarnas roller i respektive land, kan studien bidra med en djupare förståelse för hur samhälleliga normer och förväntningar påverkar vardagslivet för de olika könen. Metodvalet för denna studie är en kvalitativ ansats metod som är baserad på semistrukturerade intervjuer. Sex intervjuer genomfördes med tre intevjupersoner i vardera land. Materialet har analyserats med hjälp av en tematisk analysansats. Vidare användes två teorier: att göra kön (West & Zimmerman 1987) och det andra arbetsskiftet (Hochschild & Machung 2012). Dessa teorier tillsammans med den tidigare forskningen har använts och sammankopplats med intervjumaterialet för att få fram ett resultat. Studien visar hur ansvarsfördelningen kring barns skolgång såg ut samt de likheter och skillnader som identifierats i respektive land. De svenska respondenterna beskrev ett samhälle som strävar efter att uppnå jämställdhet, medan de från Bosnien-Hercegovina beskrev ett samhälle som fortfarande påverkas av starka traditionella könsroller. Resultatet visade även på flera likheter mellan länderna. En likhet var att männen i båda länderna yrkesarbetade minst heltid. Kvinnorna yrkesarbetade aldrig mer än heltid samt var de som i flera fall gick ner i arbetstid för att kunna hinna med hushålls- och omsorgsarbete. Denna uppdelning visade sig ha en inverkan på hur arbetsuppgifterna kring ansvarsfördelningen av barns skolgång delades upp mellan könen. Studien kan bland annat bidra till en större förståelse för hur ansvarsfördelningen mellan män och kvinnor, för barnens skolgång, kan se ut i Sverige och Bosnien-Hercegovina. Dessutom ger studien inblick i hur motståndet mot traditionella könsroller ser ut i respektive land. Genom att jämföra föräldrarnas inställningar till könsroller och studera hur de löser könsrollskonflikter i vardagen, bidrar det till en djupare förståelse för hur samhälleliga normer samt förväntningar påverkar arbetsfördelningen mellan könen i respektive land.2025-08-25</p
Supportive Practices for Sustainable Hybrid Work
No full textToday, approximately 80% of knowledge workers prefer a hybrid work model, combining onsite and remote work. During and in the wake of the pandemic, there were indications that employees experienced improved well-being, work-life balance (WLB), and productivity while working from home (WFH). There were also reports on downsides, such as increased loneliness and challenges in segmenting work and non-work activities. To overcome WFH challenges, the private sector has been using coworking spaces (CWSs) for decades, since they can provide office infrastructure and social interactions during remote work. Therefore, with collectively gained remote work experiences, followed by strong requests for hybrid work, it became important to reinvest employees' experiences of hybrid work and supportive practices for sustainable work across the office, home, and CWSs. Additionally, since public actors in northern Sweden have traditionally followed the onsite norm in which work has been formally conducted at the office, and therefore, not utilizing hybrid work as a way to handle challenges in recruiting and retaining talent, this was an overlooked group within hybrid work research. Furthermore, since sustainable work involves incorporating sustainability principles into work practices, industrial and organizational psychological research with a promotive approach helps deepen understanding of supporting practices for decent work, employee well-being, and performance, and therefore, how to foster thriving individuals, organizations, and societies. Amidst these aspects, this thesis aimed to qualitatively explore employees’ lived experiences of work across the office, home, and CWSs, and gather suggestions on supportive practices for sustainable hybrid work. The thesis is based on four studies, with a main (yet not exclusive) interest in public employees' perceptions and suggestions for hybrid work. With a focus on supportive practices for employee well-being and performance, the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theory was used to explore factors that may facilitate (or hinder) sustainable hybrid work. Study I aimed to explore employee perceptions of work conditions when using a hybrid work model and how they wanted work to be organized to support collaboration, WLB, and well-being. Thus, the intention was to obtain an initial understanding of hybrid work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirty-three participants completed the online survey. Reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) was used, and the results indicated that participants appreciated combining WFH and working at the office, since they could tailor work settings to individual and team needs. In general, social interactions and collaborations were supported onsite, whereas WFH supported WLB and well-being. However, within this heterogeneous group, there were various perceptions and suggestions for supportive practices. For some, remote work mainly offered benefits such as saved time and reduced stress, while others encountered WFH challenges related to loneliness and having a hard time creating habits that supported WLB. Building on these insights, Study II explored via an online survey how hybrid work can be designed to support sustainable work among a niche group of 70 public employees in a sparsely populated area of northern Sweden. The results of the RTA indicated that key-supportive practices were trust-based leadership, flexibility, reasonable demands, clear policies, and adequate physical conditions. Within this niche sample, perceptions of supportive practices were more homogeneous. As in Study I, participants held that combining onsite and remote work provided them with increased resources and added value (compared to office and remote work separately), yet WFH challenges persisted. Related to the WFH challenges expressed in Studies I and II, Study III aimed to investigate whether adding a third workplace, a local CWS, could help address WFH challenges and maintain the benefits of reduced commutes during remote work. This one-year evaluation project with 15 public employees living in a sparsely populated area of northern Sweden used online surveys twice and interviews once. The content analysis showed that participants who had adequate pre- and onboarding processes, combined with CWSs having different work areas and enough members, used their CWSs more and perceived them to provide added value to WFH and the office. Notably, besides the goal of addressing WFH challenges, an improved understanding of their service users' needs and cross-organizational learning emerged. Building on this, Study IV explored whether a new CWS concept, called Samverket, could be used to improve Swedish public sector services. Two community-centered CWSs with one hub in Östersund and another in Stockholm were tested by employees from several public actors within these regions. This one-year evaluation project with, in total, 101 survey respondents (over three occasions) demonstrated via RTA that community-centered CWSs, when actively facilitated and supported by member organizations, have the potential to bridge the gaps within and between public actors, thereby strengthening innovation and improving public services. All in all, contributes the thesis with complementary perspectives on employees' newly gained experiences of hybrid work in an early post-pandemic period (Studies I and II), and (to my knowledge) unique insights into addressing WFH challenges via local CWSs for public employees in northern Sweden (Study III), and addressing deficiencies in public services by using a new community-centered CWS concept designated for cross-organizational networking, learning and collaboration within and between public actors (Study IV). The studies illustrate how work across the office, home, and CWSs can meet different needs in ways that neither onsite nor remote work alone seems to achieve, and therefore, support sustainable work in ways that benefit individuals, organizations, and society. At the same time, it became evident that resources that empower one employee may inadvertently create demands for another; thus, achieving supportive practices within hybrid work seems complex. Therefore, consistent with JD-R theory, the findings underscore the extended importance of personal resources to be able to optimize the resources within different workplaces, and therefore, thrive in hybrid work settings. The studies offer implications for practitioners, such as implementing hybrid work with intentionality, building trust rather than control, providing balanced autonomy, ensuring clear communication and adequate ICTs, and most importantly, monitoring and continuously adapting the hybrid work design. Future research should explore how hybrid work arrangements can be refined and adapted across different contexts and over time
Two-Dimensional Hierarchical Rate Control Scheme For Light Field Compression Using MV-HEVC
No full textLight field (LF) is envisioned to form a base for many visual applications, given its ability to capture a scene's spatial and angular information. However, using LF comes at the cost of increased bit rate and storage requirements. This paper performs a comprehensive analysis of the rate control aspect of LF data compression and proposes an extension of a rate control scheme originally designed for video signals. A two-dimensional hierarchical rate control strategy is proposed explicitly for LF data to meet a defined target bit rate with high accuracy while maintaining a similar rate-distortion efficiency as that presented in our previous state-of-the-art LF data compression scheme. Instead of considering the target bit budget for each video signal individually, the proposed rate control scheme considers the overall bit budget for an entire LF data compression in the bits allocation. To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed scheme, the existing rate control scheme implemented in reference MV-HEVC, as well as the state-of-the-art LF coding methods on JPEG Pleno common test conditions, are considered for evaluation. The experimental results exhibit, on average, a 2 dB improvement in PSNR while achieving the target bit rate with 4.5% better accuracy than the reference MV-HEVC rate control scheme. It is clear from the extensive analysis that the proposed scheme outperforms the JPEG Pleno HEVC anchor scheme for all JPEG Pleno CTC lenslet LFs, thus fully justifying its inclusion in the JPEG Pleno Light Field Coding standard. In the future, the deep learning-based rate control scheme will be investigated, along with intra-frame bit allocation, to tackle low bit rates
Reclaiming Achilles and Patroclus : Examining the Historical Plausibility of Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles and 'Straight-Washing'in Classical Scholarship
No full textMadeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles (2011) reimagines the relationship between the Homeric characters Achilles and Patroclus in the Iliad as deeply romantic and sexual, which challenges centuries of heteronormative interpretations in classical scholarship and pop culture through various media outlets. This paper examines the historical plausibility of Miller’s portrayal of Achilles and Patroclus by analyzing ancient sources such as Homer’s Iliad, Aeschylus’ Myrmidons, Plato’s Symposium, and Xenophon’s Symposium. Sources which suggest that the relationship was understood through most of antiquity to be romantic. This paper also examines the phenomenon of straight-washing: the systematic erasure of same-sex relationships in historical narratives, particularly due to the Christian expansion and its influence on morality throughout Europe and in classical scholarship with its heteronormative and modern biases. By tracing the evolution of Achilles and Patroclus’ relationship, its interpretations, and reception from antiquity to contemporary media, this study attempts to argue that Miller’s own interpretation is not an anachronistic imposition but a recovery of ancient norms and queer readings of the ancient sources. Furthermore, this study attempts to show the broader implications of fiction in reshaping and adding to historical discourse regarding marginalized narrative while challenging and adding a layer to scholarly traditions by demonstrating the plausibility of Miller’s portrayal in The Song of Achilles. Through queer theory and historical criticism, this research affirms the legitimacy of Miller’s portrayal while addressing counterarguments and emphasizing the importance of diverse interpretations by adding to the discourse. Slutgiltigt godkännandedatum: 2025-06-05</p
Bureaucratic Caring in Action : Chief Nursing Officers' Leadership in Healthcare
No full textAim To explore how chief nursing officers perceive and enact their leadership within bureaucratic healthcare systems, with a particular focus on patient safety, strategic responsibilities and the advancement of nursing care quality.Methods A qualitative study design was used. Semistructured interviews were conducted between October 2023 and May 2024 with nine female Chief Nursing Officers, representing diverse regional healthcare settings across Sweden. The interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, which was informed by the theory of bureaucratic caring to support interpretation.Findings Chief nursing officers described navigating hierarchical and bureaucratic systems while promoting person-centred care and professional governance. Their work involved balancing strategic mandates with ethical imperatives, advocating for workforce development and fostering a culture of proactive safety. The analysis generated four interrelated themes: (1) grappling with complexity and power structures; (2) guided by ethics, compassion and purpose; (3) empowering the nursing workforce to provide improved care; and (4) shaping quality care through innovation, evidence and technology.Conclusion Chief Nursing Officers can act as key agents of transformation at the intersection of structure and care. Their leadership extends beyond administrative functions to encompass strategic influence, ethical advocacy and system-level improvement. The findings underscore the need to further formalise and institutionalise the role, ensuring it is equipped with the mandate and structures required to lead across organisational levels. Strengthening such roles calls for leadership models that foster collaboration, support shared governance and enable flatter organisational hierarchies-structures designed to enhance participation, distribute decision-making and promote professional autonomy.Reporting Method This study followed reporting standards for qualitative research by adhering to the EQUATOR Network guidelines and using the COREQ checklist.Patient or Public Contribution Only health care staff participated in this study.Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care This study highlights the strategic, ethical and relational dimensions of chief nursing officers' leadership and its impact on patient safety, quality improvement and workforce development. The findings demonstrate that they can play a pivotal role in embedding ethical perspectives into healthcare leadership-bridging professional nursing values with structural and strategic priorities. This underscores the importance of enabling nurses to shape care systems in ways that promote safety, professional governance and person-centredness
Elevers användning av räknemetoder : En undersökning av lärares undervisning i årskurs 1 och elevernas tillämpning av denna, med fokus på metoder i räknesätten addition och subtraktion.
No full textResultaten från nationella proven i årskurs 3 under läsåret 2022/2023 visar att en betydande andel elever inte klarar kravnivån för räknemetoder inom addition och subtraktion. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka lärares undervisning i årskurs 1 och elevers tillämpning av denna, med fokus på metoder i räknesätten addition och subtraktion, från läromedlet Favorit Matematik. Studien baseras på kvalitativ metod (observationer och intervjuer med lärare och elever), med kvantitativa inslag. Resultatet visar att lärares undervisning med fokus på metoder i räknesätten addition och subtraktion skiljer sig åt. Elever som fick en grundlig genomgång av räknemetoderna inför introduktion till räknesätten, uppvisade bättre resultat och förståelse. Ytterligare forskning på området rekommenderas, för att få en bredare förståelse av hur elevers val av räknemetod påverkas av olika undervisningssätt. Med målsättning att uppnå starkare matematikresultat bland elever i åk 3, som baseras på evidens och beprövad erfarenhet
A Visual Quality of Experience Toolkit for Realistic Immersive Telepresence Applications
No full textImmersive imaging applications gained a lot of traction in the last decade with the advances in capture, processing, compression, transmission, and display technologies. Recent works on spherical light fields and new view synthesis bring new challenges with respect to fast rendering of new views and a smooth quality of experience (QoE). The real-time rendering capabilities enable realistic immersive telepresence applications, which extend the traditional telepresence systems with improved visual realism and possible addition of depth cues. The recent efforts on the spherical light fields and new view synthesis approaches show that a combined light field and spherical data visualization will be beneficial for the scientific community. In this paper, we provide a WebGL- and WebXR-based visual QoE toolkit which can be used both on traditional displays and extended reality headsets, presenting various visual modalities. To validate the usefulness of the proposed toolkit, we conducted a pilot test on our publicly available spherical light field database. This toolkit can be used for easier and faster quality assessment and can support the scientific community for subjective visual QoE studies focusing on telecommunication, telepresence, and augmented telepresence applications.Accepted version of paper that will be published in forthcoming IEEE conference proceeding.</p
Lugnvia : för en trygg sovrumsmiljö
No full textDetta självständiga arbete undersöker hur grafisk design i godnattsagor kommunicerar lugn. Genom att noggrant analysera ett strategiskt urval för att se hur böckerna är utformade genom att titta på färg, form och gestaltning. I den undersökande delen av projektet används kvalitativ innehållsanalys för att kunna skapa en tydlig bild av hur böckerna är designade. Ett urval på tio böcker som läses vig läggning valdes ut med hjälp av en bibliotekarie på Helge bibliotek i region Gävleborg. Sedan har studien utförts genom att samla in svar från den kvalitativ innehållsanalys för att kunna besvara på frågeställningarna För att skapa en bok som är avsedd att läsas vid läggdags bör design element såsom färg, komposition och gestaltning väljas medvetet för att främja en lugnande effekt hos betraktaren. Resultaten visar dock att detta inte alltid är fallet, då böckerna saknar en konsekvent användning av lugnande element. Dessutom framgår det att färgen grön, som anses vara en av de mest effektiva för att skapa lugn, inte används medvetet i uppslagen. För att lösa problemet med att barn har svårt att somna skapade jag Lugnvia, ett företag som skapar produkter för att tillsammans kunna bygga en trygg sovrumsmiljö. Där barn och vuxen kan tillsammans kan bygga på närvaron och trygghet. Arbetet med Lugnvia har varit en lärorik och givande process. Målet var att skapa produkter som tillsammans skapar ett starkt helhetskoncept. Slutresultatet blev ett företag med en tydlig inriktning där budskapet om att skapa en trygg sovrumsmiljö verkligen kommer fram.
Optimizing lignin cationization : Unveiling the impact of reaction conditions through multi-response analysis
No full textLignin, a natural and abundant biopolymer, holds great potential for cosmetic applications. However, its limited solubility and inherently negative charge restrict its use in certain formulations. This is particularly relevant for hair conditioning, where a positively charged polymer is preferred to effectively treat negatively charged damaged hair. To overcome this limitation, lignin extracted from acacia wood residues was chemically cationized, through an etherification reaction, using 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride (CHPTAC) as cationization agent. The cationization process was optimized through a full factorial design of experiments aiming to maximize both the degree of substitution (DS) and ζ-potential of the lignin derivatives, thereby obtaining more positively charged derivatives. The reaction parameters temperature and CHPTAC-to-lignin molar ratio were selected as independent variables to be optimized. Results revealed that the reaction temperature is the most relevant parameter for lignin cationization, showing a significant positive influence on lignin modification, while the CHPTAC-to-lignin ratio has no significant impact. Under optimal conditions, soluble derivatives with a DS of 0.61 ± 0.03 and a ζ-potential of 18.79 ± 0.30 mV were obtained, confirming the success of the reaction. This straightforward and efficient approach enhances acacia's lignin solubility and charge properties, broadening its application potential. In particular, it offers a promising alternative for hair conditioning, thus contributing to the sustainable development of bio-based cosmetic ingredients.
Förskollärares explicita och implicita arbetsuppgifter : En förklarande enfallsstudie
No full textDenna fallstudie syftar till att identifiera och analysera förskollärares explicita och implicita arbetsuppgifter i det dagliga arbetet på förskolorna i Sundsvalls kommun. Fallstudiens problemområde är den höga andelen förskollärare som riskerar att bli utbrända på grund av hög arbetsbelastning. Metoden för datainsamling är kvalitativa intervjuer med legitimerade förskollärare med Sundsvalls kommun som arbetsgivare samt dokumentanalys av styrdokument, lönekriterier och anställningsdokument hämtat från Sundsvalls kommun. Resultatet av studien utgår från två huvudteman; förskollärares explicita- och implicita arbetsuppgifter. Utifrån huvudtemat explicita arbetsuppdrag identifierades sex olika underteman från den tematiska analysen. Dessa sex teman är värdearbete, undervisningsarbete, demokratiarbete, samverkansarbete, kontinuitetsarbete och systematiskt kvalitetsarbete. Utifrån huvudtemat implicita arbetsuppdrag har den tematiska analysen identifierat sex olika underteman utifrån respondenternas uppfattning kring deras dagliga arbete. Dessa är läroplansarbete, administrationsarbete, arbetsmiljöarbete, måltidsarbete, städarbete och tillgänglighetsarbete. Resultatet visar på att de implicita blir på bekostnad av de explicita, att brister på resurser blir på bekostnad av arbetsmiljön för förskollärare samt att en otydlig arbetsbeskrivning leder till att förskollärare arbetar gränslöst utifrån en lojalitet, vilket i sin tur utifrån diskussionen kan leda till en ökad risk för utbrändhet bland förskollärare.Godkänd 2025-05-23</p