Publikationer från Umeå universitet
Not a member yet
55455 research outputs found
Sort by
Floods and municipal crisis management,a case study of Gävle municipality.
No full textThe purpose of the thesis is to investigate how municipalities can strengthen their crisismanagement when it comes to climate-related crises in the form of floods. To implement this, Gävle municipality’s crisis management of the 2021 floods will be investigated. The thesis is aqualitative study and relies on semi-structured interviews with people who hold chief positions. In addition to the interviews, policy documents related to the municipal crisis management willbe analyzed. To investigate the crisis management of Gävle municipality the thesis will bebased on a framework that links resilience capacity and resilience abilities to the crisis management cycle. The thesis finds that the municipality’s policy documents advocate a systematic crisis management, while actual crisis management consists of a large amount of improvisation. It also showed that the improvisation helped the municipality to respond, even though there was an absence of a distinct plan. Furthermore, the thesis finds that the municipality’s preparedness capacity and abilities can be improved, that material aspects are important for flood management and that responsibilities can be clarified. To conclude, the results show that the lessons learned can form better preparedness strategies in the future
Procedural Dungeon Generation : Comparing Binary Space Partitioning to an extended Cellular Automata with postprocessing: Flood Fill and Room Splitting
No full textThis thesis compares two Procedural Dungeon Generation (PDG) approaches building on Binary Space Partitioning (BSP) and Cellular Automata (CA) regarding three PDG properties: expressivity, reliability and controllability. To enable a fair comparison, the CA method is extended with two post-processing steps: a flood fill algorithm to detect rooms, and a room splitter to enforce room size constraints. Both methods are then used to generate 2D top-down dungeon layouts within a 50x50 tile map. The evaluation uses two agent-based metrics: Difficulty, how much the agent must explore to find the best path from the start room to the end room. Diversity, how different the agent’s actions are when solving different layouts. The agent uses the A* pathfinding algorithm to navigate the dungeon layouts. The dungeon layouts are represented as graphs, where room are nodes and corridors are edges. A Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) is constructed to ensure room connectivity, and additional corridors are added selectively to increase layout complexity. Each configuration generates 1000 dungeons, and the results are visualized using expressive range analysis via 2D heatmaps of Difficulty and Diversity. The results show that BSP is more reliable and predictable, consistently generating well-structured dungeons. In contrast, CA exhibits greater expressivity, producing a broader and more varied set of layouts, but at the cost of occasional reliability issues, such as isolated rooms or visual artifacts, the causes of which remain unresolved. The choices between BSP and CA depends on design priorities: BSP is preferable for structured and predictable layouts, while CA might be better for scenarios demanding variety and emergent structure
Extending participation into use time and design-in-use
No full textChapter 3 expands our journey beyond the enactment of design participation. The last three decades have witnessed suites of design approaches, both in research and practice that are premised on continuing collaborative design after implementation, resulting in design-in-use approaches such as co-realization, meta-design, and aging together. The rise of hacking and making has, in turn, led to open design initiatives, designing with and for maker communities, peer-content creation, and crowdsourced design and innovation strategies. Furthermore, further design has been being carried out by people using the products and services. The minimum-viable-product development strategies have underscored the benefits and gained versatility of extending the design into the use time. The constraints of and possibilities opened up by situated use are simply difficult to anticipate during concept design. In all these research and practice approaches, the key underlying questions are what and how are people capable of engaging with designs during use time and how is their design engagement supported and built upon. In this chapter, we first go through what different disciplines have established about users’ design engagements during use time. We then present a taxonomy of active use that reveals the impressive range in which active-use phenomena happens. Use as is, active use, locally new designs, and globally new innovations mark different intensities of engagement. These can concern the material form of design, new uses, new meanings, and adjustment to local settings. Equally, there are collective forms of active use that shape communities and organizations, ideologies and imaginaries, and global platforms that facilitate active use. All these aspects and gradations of user engagement can be found in hotspots such as digital-physical making activities, but many also in other digital and physical settings. The chapter then proceeds to elaborate on how the design spaces can be temporally extended using the users’ active design engagement through aging together design guideposts. The aging together methodology is illustrated with a case study of building an information infrastructure for a communal housing initiative with the Active Seniors association, a case that outlines how designs can evolve and blend with infrastructuring and maintenance of community resources
The enormous critisism : Marx’, Engels’, and Lenin’s Accusations against Their Rivals
No full textThe Enormous Criticism: Marx’, Engels’, and Lenin’s Accusations against Their Rivals Marx, Engels, and Lenin considered capitalism to be their main enemy, which should be annihilated through a bloody revolution. The rivals, namely, other socialists and certain philosophers, were not spared either and were accused of being servants of the bourgeoisie, pseudo-scientists, and so on. In this essay, Marx’ and Engels’ various accusations against four of their rivals will be examined. I also study the group of theorists and activists whom Marx and Engels called utopian socialists. Furthermore, the phenomenon of revisionism within Marxism, Lenin’s accusations against revisionists, and those he called opportunists are going to be analyzed. I try to unmask Marx’, Engels’, and Lenin’s various accusations
En litteraturstudie om kvinnors upplevelser efter bröstkirurgi till följd av bröstcancer
No full textBakgrund: Bröstcancer är den vanligaste cancerformen bland kvinnor, och mastektomi är en central behandlingsmetod. Förlusten av ett bröst påverkar inte den fysiska kroppen utan även självkänsla, identitet och livskvalitet. Sjuksköterskor spelar en viktig roll i att erbjuda stöd och personcentrerad vård i den omvälvande livshändelsen Syfte: Att beskriva kvinnors upplevelser efter mastektomi till följd av bröstcancer. Metod: En litteraturöversikt baserad på kvalitativa studier, där systematiska sökningar gjordes i CINAHL och APA PsycInfo. Artiklar publicerade mellan 2015-2023 granskades och analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Åtta kvalitativa studier med totalt 147 kvinnor (26-87 år) från sju länder inkluderades. Två huvudkategorier identifierades: Kroppsuppfattning och förändrad kvinnlig identitet samt Social påverkan och behov av stöd. Kvinnor beskrev förlust av femininitet, förändrad självkänsla och påverkan på intimitet och sexuell identitet. Många upplevde social isolering och skam. Stöd från anhöriga och samhället var avgörande för återhämtning och psykosocialt välbefinnande. Konklusion: Kvinnors upplevelser efter mastektomi präglas av förändringar i kroppslig självbild och identitet, där copingstrategier och socialt stöd är centrala i återhämtningsprocessen. Studien understryker vikten av personcentrerad vård som stärker kvinnans välbefinnande och stödjer en positiv anpassning efter operationen. Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, and mastectomy is a central treatment method. The loss of a breast affects not only the physical body bit also self-esteem, identity, and quality of life. Nurses play a cruical role in providing support and person-centrered care during this transformative life event. Aim: To describe women´s experiences following mastectomy due to a breast cancer.Method: A litterature review based on qualitative studies. Systematic searches were conducted in CINAHL and Apa PsycInfo. Articles published between 2015-2023 were reviewed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Eight qualitative studies involving 147 women (ages 26-87) from seven countries were included.Two main categories were identified: Body perception and altered female identity and Social impact and need for support. Women described the loss of femininity, alered self-esteem, and impacts on intimacy and sexual identity. Many experienced social isolation and shame. Support from family and the community was crucial for recovery and psychosocial well-being. Conclusion: Women´s experiences following mastectomy are marked by significant alterations in body image and identity, with coping strategies and social support emerging as pivotal components of the recovery process. This study highlights the importance of person-centered care that promotes women´s well-being and supports positive adaption following surgery
Discovery of tumour indicating morphological changes in benign prostate biopsies through AI
No full textDiagnostic needle biopsies that miss clinically significant prostate cancer (PCa) often sample benign tissue near hidden cancers. Such benign samples might still display subtle morphological signs of cancer elsewhere in the prostate. This study examined if artificial intelligence (AI) could detect these morphological clues in benign biopsies from men with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels to predict subsequent diagnosis of clinically significant PCa within 30 months. We analysed biopsies from 232 men initially diagnosed as benign, matched for age, diagnosis year, and PSA levels-half were later diagnosed with PCa, while the rest remained cancer-free for at least eight years. The AI model accurately predicted future PCa diagnosis from initial benign biopsies (AUC = 0.82), highlighting patterns such as changes in stromal collagen and altered glandular epithelial cells. This demonstrates that AI analysis of routine haematoxylin-eosin biopsy sections can detect subtle signs indicating clinically significant PCa before it becomes histologically apparent. Such morphological patterns shed light on the broader tissue alterations induced by prostate cancer, even in benign tissue, potentially enhancing early detection and clinical decision-making
The Highly Sensitive Person as Cultural Phenomenon : A Discourse Analytical Study of emotional Sensitivity in Sweden
No full textThis thesis explores the cultural and psychological discourses surrounding the concept of the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). Through a discourse analytical approach grounded in the the-ories of Laclau and Mouffe as well as Michel Foucault. The study examines how emotional sensitivity is articulated, legitimized and positioned within contemporary Swedish psychology and public culture. The empirical material consists of qualitative interviews with licensed psy-chologists, supplemented by texts and public commentary authored by the same professionals. The analysis reveals how HSP functions as a nodal point that structures meaning around emo-tional experience, vulnerability, and identity. Furthermore, the study discusses how notions of trauma, neurodivergence, and giftedness converge within the HSP discourse, creating both validation and limitations for those who identify with the term. A key finding is that while the HSP concept can offer relief and recog-nition, it may also contribute to fixed self-understandings and hinder emotional self-regula-tion when treated as an essential personality trait. The study highlights how culturally dominant narratives around sensitivity risk replacing relational dialogue with self-referential identification. The thesis contributes to ethnological research on emotional cultures by problematising how diagnostic language shapes self-under-standing, while also calling attention to the affective consequences of categorising sensitivity as a trait rather than a process. Suggestions for further research include the role of gender in sensitivity discourse and the potential of culturally embedded forms of validation.
Saints, angels, virgins, and the dead. : The interrelation between spirituality and death in Carcoma by Layla Martínez.
No full textTo make older literary history relevant : A content analysis of how the classical Antique period and the Renaissance are treated in two textbooks for the course Swedish 2 in high school
No full textThe study aims to examine what and how the classical Antique period and the Renaissance is portrayed in textbooks for the course Svenska 2 in Swedish upper secondary school, as well as how relevance is motivated through wording and content. The study utilises Malmgrens theory of subject concepts and Ammert’s model of production types. The results show a major prioritisation of male writers with one textbook completely excluding female writers or perspectives. The utilised theories lead to the conclusion that the textbooks representations that were most common is using statements without deeper discussion, meaning that they rely on short fact-based statements without interpretations. Furthermore, the results show that contextualization of the analysed epochs, and relevancy is not motivated throughout the books. The study then discusses the potential consequences of the low number of women in textbooks, the western male dominance and surface level relevance. This may restrict the students´ motivation, interpretation, sense of inclusion in studying the history of literature
What is a climate news story worth? : A quantitative analysis of climate journalism in Dagens Nyheterand Expressen 2019–2024
No full text What is a climate news story worth? A quantitative analysis of climate journalism in Dagens Nyheter and Expressen 2019–2024. The aim of this study was to understand how journalism covering climate change has evolved during a five-year period in the Swedish newspapers Dagens Nyheter and Expressen. The study was conducted by investigating the frequency, size, and framing of 580 articles published between 2019 and 2024, all containing the word “climate change” in the headline and/or preamble. The newspapers included in this study have or had an outspoken climate profile. Expressen, which had invested in a branch of climate journalism in 2019, discontinued it in 2021. Dagens Nyheter still has a number of special reporters who report on climate issues. The method used in this study is a quantitative content analysis, which enabled us to measure frequency and category use, but also study the contents of the articles. The theoretical framework consists of agenda setting, news valuing and framing theory, which all contribute to understanding the production and effect of reporting on climate change. The result showed that there has been a substantial decrease in the number of articles published in recent years. Expressen, which published 89 articles during 2019, only published 24 articles during 2024. Dagens Nyheter published 60 articles during 2019 and 35 articles during 2024. Expressen’s decreased print of articles was especially significant, indicating that the investment in climate journalism was short-term. The number of articles in both newspapers increased during special events, such as climate-related political meetings. Expressen were prone to use an event-based framing, Dagens Nyheter tended to frame climate change from a thematic perspective, consisting of more long-term overall analyses of the subject