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Enhancing the hand dishwashing process : Designing a dish rack and storage accessories catered to small kitchens through industrial design engineering
No full textIn today’s society, many people, especially students and young professionals, live in small apartments or student housing where kitchen space is limited. This project addresses the challenge of hand dishwashing in compact kitchen spaces through creating an innovative, space saving dish drying tool catered to enhance the hand dishwashing process. Through a user-centered design process, including surveys, interviews, observations and stakeholder collaboration with Clas Ohlson, we identified key user needs such as compactness, usability, spaciousness and ease of storage. The ideation phase involved both creative methods and co-creation through workshops. Through iterative prototyping and testing, guided by direct user feedback, the final result is a versatile dish rack that reflects ergonomic principles and anthropometric standards, ensuring comfort and accessibility for a wide range of users. The product’s flexibility ensures it is usable on kitchen counters, in sinks, or as an accessory to a dishwasher. This demonstrates strong usability by minimizing cognitive load and adapting to varied contexts of use. Additionally, sustainable design considerations informed material and construction choices, aligning with Cradle to Cradle and Life Cycle Thinking principles to reduce environmental impact. The resulting product not only fits compact kitchens but also meets the practical, ergonomic, and environmental expectations of modern users. The project highlights how designers can identify relevant challenges by reflecting on their own user experiences, then validating and expanding those insights through broader research. Our solution addresses a growing societal need in compact living and has potential for further development, especially for accommodating larger kitchenware and enhancing intuitiveness. It also contributes a commercially relevant and sustainable product concept that could fit seamlessly within Clas Ohlson’s product line
Barriers for Nature based Solutions : An Exploratory Study in Barriers and Actions to Implement Nature based Solutions
No full textI en tid av klimatförändringar blir det allt viktigare att anpassa våra samhällen för extrema väderföreteelser. Fler och kraftigare regn ställer högre krav på dagvattenhanteringen i städer, något som om underdimensionerat kan orsaka översvämningsskador i stadsmiljö. I detta sammanhang lyfts naturbaserade lösningar (NbS) fram som ett sätt att lösa dagvattenproblematiken och klimatanpassa våra städer. Trots klimatanpassningens växande betydelse har arbetet med att implementera naturbaserade lösningar visat sig vara svårt för svenska kommuner att förverkliga. För att öka implementeringen krävs därför en djupare förståelse för de hinder som påverkar kommunernas arbete med dessa lösningar. I denna studie identifieras och kartläggs därför vilka hinder och utmaningar som kommunala tjänstepersoner upplever hindra implementeringen av naturbaserade lösningar. Vidare redogör även studien för vilka behov som behöver bemötas för att kommunala tjänstepersoner ska använda NbS i högre grad samt förslag på handlingar för att bemöta dessa. Efter genomförandet av två litteraturstudier och en intervjustudie har studien identifierat 15 barriärer och 49 tillhörande utmaningar som hindrar tjänstepersoner från att implementera naturbaserade lösningar. Utöver detta har 12 behov, centrala för att stärka kommunernas förmåga att arbeta med naturbaserade lösningar, tillsammans med 44 föreslagna handlingar för att bemöta dessa identifierats. Studiens slutsats ger därför en djupare förståelse för vad som hindrar kommuner från att implementera naturbaserade lösningar och förslag på möjliga vägar framåt för att öka användningen av dessa lösningar. Slutligen ger studien förslag på fortsatt forskning, både för att validera studiens teorier och vidareutveckla studiens teoretiska bidrag i praktiken.In an era of climate change, it is becoming increasingly important to adapt our built environment to extreme weather events. More frequent and heavier rainfall places higher demands on stormwater management in cities, which if under-dimensioned can cause flood damage to the built environment. In this context, nature-based solutions (NbS) are highlighted as a way to solve stormwater problems and adapt our cities to a changing climate. Despite the growing importance of climate adaptation, the implementation of nature-based solutions has proved challenging for Swedish municipalities to fulfil. In order to increase implementation, a deeper understanding of the barriers that affect municipalities' ability to implement these solutions is required. This study therefore identifies and characterises the barriers and challenges that municipal staff experience as hindering the implementation of nature-based solutions. Furthermore, the study also describes the needs that must be met in order for municipal staff to use NbS to a greater extent, as well as suggestions for actions to meet these needs. After conducting two literature reviews and an interview study, this study has identified 15 barriers and 49 associated challenges that prevent municipal staff from implementing nature-based solutions. In addition, 12 needs, central to strengthening the municipalities' capacity to implement nature-based solutions, together with 44 suggested actions to address these needs, have been identified. The conclusion of the study thus provides a deeper understanding of what prevents municipalities from implementing nature-based solutions and suggests possible ways forward to increase the use of such solutions. Furthermore, the study provides suggestions for further research, both to validate the study's theories and to further develop the study's theoretical contribution in the field.
Friction Forces Between Cutting Edge Flanks and Machined Wood Due to the Moisture Content of Scots Pine
No full textCybersecurity Challenges in Remote Work Environments: Common Threats and Mitigation Strategies
No full textThe shift to remote work, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has fundamentally altered the cybersecurity landscape. Although remote work provides flexibility and continuity, it also expands the attack surface, making organizations more vulnerable to cyber threats. This thesis investigates the key cybersecurity challenges in remote work environments and explores long-term mitigation strategies, providing organizations with actionable insights and filling a research gap on sustaining security in the evolving remote work landscape. A qualitative research methodology was employed, involving semi-structured interviews with cybersecurity professionals across diverse sectors. Thematic analysis was used to identify recurring patterns and insights related to threats, vulnerabilities, and organizational responses. The study found that the most prominent threats include phishing and social engineering, insider risks, insecure networks and devices, and the growing role of AI-powered attacks. Mitigation strategies emphasized continuous security awareness, multi-factor authentication, Zero Trust approaches, strict access control, and strong leadership commitment to compliance. These findings highlight the importance of combining technical, human, and organizational measures to build resilient cybersecurity frameworks in decentralized work settings.
Downscaling of general circulation models using generative AI
No full textGlobal Climate Models (GCMs) are an essential tool for projecting climate change impacts but theircoarse spatial resolution (often 100-200 km) limits their applicability for detailed climate assessments ona regional scale. This thesis develops a downscaling framework which combine a novel conditionalGenerative Adversarial Network (cGAN) with Quantile Delta Mapping (QDM) bias correction to increasespatial resolution by a factor of 10. The cGAN architecture incorporates Residual-in-Residual DenseBlocks and both channel and spatial attention mechanisms, where daily precipitation is the primaryvariable, and temperature and sea level pressure as conditional inputs. Training is conducted on ERA5-Land reanalysis data which have been upscaled to match the resolution of the EC-Earth3 GCM, enablingthe cGAN to learn regional downscaling patterns prior to application on the bias-corrected GCM output.The proposed method has been benchmarked on simple traditional downscaling methods, includingbilinear and nearest-neighbour interpolation. Results indicate that the cGAN significantly outperformstraditional methods, where the Power Spectral Density shows improved performance across alltimescales and spatial maps show both long- and short-term superiority. The cGAN was further testedon Pearson correlation and Kling-Gupta Efficiency, showing values above 0.97 and 0.9 for all cellsrespectively. The QDM bias correction combined with a dry-day adjustment effectively mitigates thecommon drizzling bias in GCM precipitation, showing that the method yields similar number of dry days.However, some limitations remain. Some seasonal biases persist, where there are someunderestimations of rainfall for the more rainfall intense months (July to September), and QQ-plot analysisreveals overestimation of moderate rainfall intensities and underestimation of extremes in certainlocations. The findings highlight the sensitivity to the bias correction stage, where the bias propagates tothe finer resolution.Overall, this work demonstrates that integrating generative AI with statistical bias correction offers acomputationally efficient and operationally viable approach for producing high-resolution, bias-reducedprecipitation datasets from coarse-resolution GCM outputs
Sustainable valorization of water hyacinth-derived lignocellulose towards functional applications
No full textInvasive plant species like water hyacinth (WH) are often problematic due to their rapid growth, forming dense colonies that deplete nutrients and reduce oxygen levels in water bodies. However, the green valorization of this aquatic weed and its transformation into valuable products could help address the interconnected challenges of pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss. In this study, we utilized WH - a sustainable, low-cost, and abundant biomass-to develop eco-friendly biopolymers as sustainable alternatives to synthetic plastics. Unlike kraft pulping, our approach uses a highly adaptable and recyclable green deep eutectic solvent (DES) to break down WH into a viscous lignocellulose slurry. By casting this slurry, we created bioplastics with excellent physical and mechanical properties. The resulting biopolymer displays a high tensile strength of 101.8 MPa, outperforming kraft paper and surpassing common bioplastics like PLA and PHA, demonstrating superior structural performance. These biopolymers can be easily recycled at the end of their life by mechanical disintegration in water, allowing the lignocellulose slurry to be reused. Unlike non-biodegradable synthetic plastics, our bioplastics can naturally biodegrade in the soil, exemplifying a desirable closed-loop cycle. The biopolymer also retained high antioxidant activity of 90.2 %, making it suitable for applications requiring oxidative stability. This work advances eco-friendly material science by promoting resource recovery, reducing plastic pollution, and offering a method to control the spread of WH. In the future, WH biopolymers could replace commonly used petrochemical plastics in sustainable, multifunctional applications such as agricultural mulching films, food packaging, and foams. Godkänd;2025;Nivå 0;2025-10-15 (u8);Funder: Kenyan German Centre for Mining, Environmental Engineering and Resource Management (CEMEREM) (57580954);Full text license: CC BY-NC-ND</p
The impact of forensic delay: facilitating facial composite construction using an early-recall retrieval technique
No full textMemory for facial features deteriorates over time, diminishing one’s ability to construct an accurate visual likeness of a face (i.e. a facial composite). In Experiment 1, we investigated how retention interval impacts composite construction. Participants recalled an unfamiliar face during a Cognitive Interview (CI) and constructed a feature composite across four post-encoding retention intervals. Correct composite naming declined sharply after a 3-4 hour retention interval, remained stable at two days, and dropped to floor-level after one week. Experiments 2–4 examined how composite effectiveness was influenced by the incorporation of two factors: (a) a novel, self-administered written face-recall attempt, conducted 3-4 hours after encoding, and (b) a standard or modified holistic recall elicited immediately before construction. Participant-witnesses created more identifiable likenesses when early recall was invited, suggesting that this intervention consolidated and enhanced access to facial-feature information. The addition of a character-based interview further improved both feature and holistic composites.Full text license: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0;</p
Building Bridges to Reading : Strengthening Swedish Literacy Acquisition for Arabic-Speaking Students in Grades 1 and 3
No full textThis study explores teachers’ experiences and perceptions of language-developing teaching methods aimed at supporting Arabic-speaking students’ reading comprehension and literacy in Swedish in grades 1 and 3. Against the backdrop of Sweden’s increasingly multilingual classrooms, the study highlights the challenges and opportunities faced by educators in fostering inclusive and effective learning environments for students with diverse linguistic backgrounds. The research adopts a qualitative approach, utilizing semi-structured interviews with nine teachers to examine their strategies for adapting instruction to meet the specific needs of Arabic-speaking students. Key findings reveal the use of multifaceted methods, including translanguaging, cooperative learning, visual aids, and digital tools, to bridge linguistic gaps and enhance reading skills. Teachers emphasize the importance of leveraging students’ first language (Arabic) as a resource, contrasting linguistic structures between Arabic and Swedish, and creating culturally responsive reading materials. Challenges identified include limited exposure to Swedish outside school, a lack of tailored educational resources, and the need for greater teacher training in multilingual pedagogies. Despite these obstacles, teachers view multilingualism as an asset, enabling students to develop metalinguistic awareness and cross-cultural competencies. The study underscores the necessity of explicit phonological training, structured vocabulary development, and collaborative learning strategies to address the unique linguistic hurdles faced by Arabic-speaking students. It also calls for policy and practical interventions, such as enhanced teacher professional development and the creation of bilingual teaching materials, to better support multilingual learners. By shedding light on teachers’ adaptive practices, this research contributes to the broader discourse on equitable education and offers actionable insights for fostering inclusive literacy instruction in multilingual classrooms.
An enhanced degradation of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) using adaptive laboratory methods: A sustainable approach alternates to genetic engineering
No full textPolyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a biodegradable plastic synthesized by several bacterial species, regarded as a sustainable alternative to petroleum-derived plastics owing to its biodegradability, biocompatibility, and renewable production processes. Although PHB exhibits inherent biodegradability, its natural degradation can be slow and inefficient in real-world conditions. This study employed the Adaptive Laboratory Evolution (ALE) method to enhance the degradation of PHB in natural environments. This study started with an examination of the degradation processes of PHB and poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) mulch films in soil using two bacterial strains, Ralstonia insidiosa C1 and Comamonas sp. K5. A two stage ALE methodology achieved 70–80 % degradation of PHB, while a four-stage approach resulted 100 % degradation. R. insidiosa C1 degraded 100 % PHB within 144 h at 1.5 % (w/v), whereas Comamonas sp. K5 within 120 h at 1.0 % (w/v). Further, the gene expression during ALE showed that a 1 % (w/v) PHB significantly increased the gene expression levels at 1.7 times than the baseline. Conversely, the 2 % (w/v) PHB resulted in lower gene expressions indicating a correlation between ALE's degradation activity enhancement and phaZ gene expression levels. The identification of 3-hydroxybutyrate (3-HB) and acetoacetate via NMR analysis substantiates that Ralstonia sp. C1 effectively degrades PHB into 3-HB as a principal metabolite resulting from the hydrolysis of PHB's ester bonds. Finally, strain C1's PHB production was examined in the context of ALE; a reduction in PHB production compared to non-ALE, suggesting that ALE may compromise PHB production. The study advocates further research into ALE's effectiveness for synthetic and bioplastic degradation in real-world scenarios, particularly under varying environmental conditions.Validerad;2025;Nivå 1;2025-10-21 (u8);Full text license: CC BY-NC-ND;Funder: JSPS KAKENHI (24K11471); Ogasawara Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Engineering, Japan; Iwatani Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Engineering, Japan;For correction, see: Chang Y-C, Shimdzu M, Choi D, Sarkar O, Venkateswar Reddy M. (2025) Corrigendum to “An enhanced degradation of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) using adaptive laboratory methods: A sustainable approach alternates to genetic engineering” [387 (2025)/144654]. Chemosphere 388 144691. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2025.144691</p
Modeling Creatures for a Live Action Film: A Workflow for Realistic Creature Modeling
No full textRealism is critical when integrating 3D creatures into live-action footage, as it greatly influences the believability and overall impact of the final product. In the VFX pipeline, creature modeling is a foundational step that directly affects downstream departments such as texturing, rigging, and animation. A poorly constructed model can compromise the entire production process and diminish the quality of the final output. This thesis explores a step-by-step workflow for creating semi-realistic creature models specifically designed for a live-action film. It focuses on the practical application of industry-standard tools and techniques to produce models that are both visually convincing and technically suitable for the next step of production. Particular attention is given to the differences between hard-surface and soft-surface modeling and how to meet production-quality standards under tight deadlines