Publikationer från Uppsala Universitet
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Balancing Heritage, Tradition and Innovation : A Qualitative Study of Organizational Ambidexterity in Swedish Royal Warrant Holder Firms
No full textThis thesis explores how firms deeply rooted in tradition, heritage, and cultural identity navigate the challenge of remaining relevant in a rapidly changing world. Specifically, we examine a group of companies that share one defining characteristic: they are all Swedish Royal Warrant Holders, appointed by His Majesty the King of Sweden. These firms are known for their craftsmanship, symbolic value, and long-term continuity, which are qualities that may, at first glance, appear to stand in contrast to the capacity for innovation and change. The study investigates how organizational ambidexterity, the ability to balance exploration and exploitation, unfolds in legacy-driven contexts. Drawing on March’s (1991) framework, complemented by theories of entrepreneurial legacy and identity, the thesis adopts a qualitative multiple-case study design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with decision-makers from ten Royal Warrant Holder firms. The findings suggest that tradition can both constrain and enable innovation. Some firms rely on continuity and incremental adaptation, while others reinterpret their heritage as a foundation for renewal. This study contributes to research on legacy organizations and provides practical insights for firms navigating the tension between historical identity and contemporary relevance
Between Rubble and Risk: INSARAG and the Challenges of Urban Search and Rescue in Complex Emergencies
No full textSudden-onset disasters, such as earthquakes, increasingly strike in complex emergencies, contexts marked by conflict, instability and violence. Yet both academia and humanitarian practice have largely overlooked how disaster response unfolds in these settings. Consequently, existing international disaster response mechanisms have often failed to adapt to the unique challenges posed by complex emergencies. This study analyses one of the United Nations’ international disaster response mechanisms: the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG). This global network coordinates international urban search and rescue (USAR) operations in response to sudden-onset disasters, particularly earthquakes. Using a multi-method approach, this study combines expert interviews and questionnaires, a thematic document analysis and geospatial risk mapping. Together, these methods identify the operational and institutional challenges that INSARAG faces in complex emergency settings, including access restrictions, security risks, political constraints, national safety legislation, and Member States’ risk aversion. These limitations significantly restrict INSARAG’s ability to deploy USAR teams to complex emergency situations in response to disasters. Hence, conflict-affected areas which are both earthquake-prone and densely populated (so-called ‘blind spots’) are unlikely to receive adequate international USAR support if struck by an earthquake. As such, the study discusses five potential strategies for INSARAG to address these limitations. It finds that localisation and preparedness offer the most effective long-term approach to ensure that, when international USAR response is delayed or absent, affected communities are empowered to fill the gap. As a result, the study recommends that INSARAG systematically invests in targeted capacity-building initiatives tailored for complex emergencies, particularly in the identified blind spots. As the frequency of disasters in conflict-affected contexts continues to increase, INSARAG will be increasingly forced to operate in such settings. A systematic restructuring of its response towards localisation, preparedness and strategic flexibility may better prepare the network for a future where disaster response in complex emergencies is no longer the exception but the norm. These findings may inform how other international disaster response mechanisms operate in complex emergencies.
Styrpaket som verktyg för organisatorisk effektivitet : En studie av Gasellföretag i byggbranschen
No full textImproving the elemental and imaging accuracy in atom probe tomography of (Ti,Si)N single and multilayer coatings using isotopic substitution of N
No full textThis study addresses the challenges in analyzing (Ti,Si)N coatings using atom probe tomography (APT). Overlapping mass-to-charge state ratios in APT mass spectra hinder unambiguous identification of Si and N, thus, isotopic substitution of naturally abundant nitrogen by 15N-enriched nitrogen was applied to disentangle the mass-spectral overlaps. A series of model coatings, namely, Ti-N, Si-N, and Ti-Si-N single layer coatings were utilized to investigate elemental accuracy, while their corresponding multilayer coatings were used to assess lateral resolution and imaging accuracy. The coatings were sputter-deposited using i) naturally abundant nitrogen and ii) 15N-enriched nitrogen, respectively. Subsequently, the coatings were analyzed with a LEAP 5000 XR atom probe. Accuracy in obtained concentrations was cross-validated with elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) combined with Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). The investigation showed that isotopic substitution allows to differentiate the Si and N peaks in the mass spectra and significantly reduces compositional discrepancies between APT and ERDA/RBS results. Despite remaining minor peak overlaps, which can result in inaccuracies in determining the elemental composition, isotopic substitution has proven to be an effective method for peak differentiation and correcting the obtained elemental composition of Ti-Si-N. Moreover, isotopic substitution can predominantly increase the elemental accuracy and imaging accuracy of APT measurements of multilayer coatings
Mosaic loss of chromosome Y in blood is associated with male susceptibility for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
No full textBackground: The prevalence of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is higher in men, a previously not well-understood sex bias that extends across severity and mortality. Mosaic loss of chromosome Y (mLOY) in blood is male-specific and associated with adverse outcomes, including IPF. In mLOY-mice, enhanced TGF-beta signaling has been reported to contribute to fibrosis of internal organs, but it is not known if such mLOY-driven disease mechanism exists in humans. Methods: We focused here on IPF in men to investigate if mLOY contributes to fibrotic disease processes in humans, as demonstrated in mouse models. To this end, we investigated mLOY as a risk factor for male IPF in epidemiological and clinical datasets, as well as by re-analyses of published single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) datasets. Results: We find that men with mLOY in blood display an increased risk for IPF diagnosis and death caused by IPF in UK Biobank, and that mLOY is associated with reduced lung functions in two cohorts. Approximately 80% of the male excess in IPF prevalence occurs in the group of men with mLOY in blood leukocytes. Notably, scRNAseq analyses support that pulmonary leukocytes with Y loss exacerbate IPF by upregulating profibrotic genes and enhancing TGF-beta signaling. Conclusions: Our results contribute to explaining the profound sex bias in IPF and replicate a mLOY-driven profibrotic disease mechanism first identified in mice. Male IPF patients with mLOY represent a subgroup that may benefit from treatment with TGF-beta inhibitors
The interplay of genetics and fatty acid metabolism : exploring their impact on metabolic syndrome in Swedish men
No full textBackgroundGenetic risk variants for obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) have been identified, but their link to relevant metabolic health parameters warrants further attention. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with obesity are linked to changes in fatty acid (FA) profiles in serum cholesteryl esters, lipid metabolism, and MetS risk.MethodData from the Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Adult Men (ULSAM), conducted in men at age 50 (N = 1973) and age 70 (N = 982), were used to investigate SNPs associated with body mass index (BMI) in genome-wide association studies with metabolic parameters at age 50. The significant SNPs and associated lipid parameters were then used as predictors of MetS over a 20-year follow-up period, at age 70 in binary regression models.ResultsThe two genes, the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene (BDNF) (rs7103411) and the fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) (rs1558902), together with delta-5-desaturase (D5D) activity, 20:5n-3 in serum cholesteryl esters (CE), fasting blood glucose, abdominal skinfold thickness, apolipoprotein-B, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) at age 50, significantly predicted the risk of MetS at age 70.ConclusionThe findings suggest a considerable contribution of the SNPs BDNF rs7103411, FTO rs1558902, and ETV5 rs9816226, along with low D5D activities and serum levels of HDL-C in men at age 50, to the risk for MetS 20 years later.Gudrun V. Skuladottir and Jessica Mwinyi contributed equally to this work.</p
Solventless Catalytic C-H and C-X Functionalization without Ball Milling
No full textA low-cost, operationally simple approach to eight different solventless Rh-, Ru-, Ir-, and Pd-catalyzed C-H and C-X functionalizations, as well as the synthesis of difficult-to-make rhodacyclic complexes, is presented. The method uses open-air grinding and heating, is reproducible, gives competitive yields compared with automated ball milling protocols, and can be extended to the late-stage modification of various bioactive compounds
Effect of cisplatin on the decidualization markers prolactin and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 1 in an endometrial cell line
No full textMany young adults will be diagnosed with cancer and as treatments improve the number of young cancer survivors increase. It has been shown that the chance of having a successful pregnancy is halved in women who receive cancer treatment compared to the general population. The endometrium is pivotal for a successful pregnancy but needs to be studied further to investigate what effects cancer treatments has on its mechanisms. One of these mechanisms is decidualization. The aim of this project was to study the gene expression of two decidualization markers in endometrial cells, prolactin and IGFBP1, to investigate if cisplatin, a common chemotherapy medication, influences decidualization and in extension, fertility. The endometrial stromal cell line T-HESC were grown and either exposed to 1 μM cisplatin for 24 hours or unexposed to cisplatin. Thereafter, the cells were either exposed or unexposed to a decidualization mixture. The cells were prepared for gene expression analysis with qPCR and the relative gene expression was studied with the comparative ct-method. The results showed that the cells treated with decidualization mixture had significantly increased gene expression of prolactin and IGFBP1 (p<0,05, n=12-24/group). However, no difference was found between cisplatin exposed samples and unexposed samples. In conclusion this study showed that cisplatin does not affect decidualization. Other chemotherapy agents and radiation treatment could be studied to see if they affect the endometrial cells differently. With RNA sequencing the entire RNA genome could be studied to find new genes that affect decidualization
Comparing machine learning models with a focus on tone in grooming chat logs
No full textIn online spaces, children are vulnerable to exploitation and sexual predators. Groomers contact minors in online chat rooms with the intent of sexual abuse. This study investigates how new deep learning models compare to traditional machine learning models in detecting grooming conversations and predatory authors. Furthermore, we detect the underlying tones used by predators and explore how these affect detection capabilities. Our goal is to better understand predator tactics and to advance automatic grooming detection in order to protect children in online spaces. The PAN12 chat logs, which contain grooming chat conversations, were used as the dataset for the research. These chat conversations were sorted into sentiments through the DistilBERT classifier based on the predator tone. SVMs and the LLaMA 3.2 1B large language model by Meta were then trained and fine-tuned on the different sentiments. The results measured through precision, recall and F1 score show that the large language model performs better in grooming detection than traditional machine learning. Moreover, performance differences between the positive and negative sentiment are captured and indicate that positive tone improves detection while negative toned grooming conversations have nuanced patterns that are harder to distinguish from non-grooming. This shows that groomers employ varying strategies to gain access to their victims. Lastly, with an F1 score of 0.99 and an F0.5 score of 0.99, the LLaMA 3.2 1B model outperforms both traditional machine learning, as well as previous versions of the large language model in grooming author detection
Development and performance of the thin-foil proton recoil spectrometer for ITER plasma diagnostics
No full textHigh Resolution Neutron Spectrometer (HRNS) is one of the essential plasma diagnostics of ITER, whose operational role is the neutronic measurement of the nt/nd ratio in a plasma core. Coexisting with the other ITER diagnostics makes it a powerful tool for efficient and precise plasma diagnostics. The main goal of this work is to present the operating principles and key challenges associated with the High Resolution Neutron Spectrometer in ITER, with a particular focus on the Thin-Foil Proton Recoil (TPR) Spectrometer. The complexity of ITER tokamak brings with it many variables that had not been considered of primary importance until now, such as the magnetic field or high temperature in the detector region