| 1. |
- Larsson, Stefan
(författare)
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Between Daring and Deliberating : 3G as a Sustainability Issue in Swedish Spatial Planning
- 2008
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The thesis shows how different aspects of sustainable development have been handled or not handled in the third generation infrastructure development in Sweden. The difference between the design of the 3G development – emphazising competition, growth and regional access, based on a strong technological optimism - and the implementation, as the roll out struck the landscape, including the non-handled radiation issue and the legal changes in order to facilitate the roll out, is discussed and analyzed. The roll out formally started in late 2000 as the licence allocation process, the so called beauty contest, was finished. Four operators were to build partly competing systems within three years, each covering 8 860 000 persons, more than 99,98 percent of the populated areas. The Post and Telecommunications Agency can sanction operators not fulfilling licence conditions by a considerable fine. The coverage by the end of the period was between 66 and 74 percent of the promised 8 860 000, with only three remaining operators still participating. Not until 1 December 2006 did the first operator report the required coverage, followed by the two remaining operators by 1 June 2007. The municipal permit handling was blamed for the delay, a reason that “could not have been foreseen”, which helped the operators avoid sanctions from the PTA. The thesis shows that a slow municipal permit process can not explain the lack of coverage in some areas of Sweden. Environmental aspects were not handled at national level but assessed locally in the building permit handling, as well as the regional 12:6 consultations at the County Administrations. This is why the municipal permit process holds many of the keys regarding environmental management and planning. Therefore the permit processes regarding 3G masts has been charted as they developed in time and screened for main issues and conflicts. Public participation can be found in the local context tied to the legal concept of being a concerned party in the permit process, or the 12:6 consultation. In spite of this, the much debated radiation issue is lifted from the participative aspects and legally defined as not relevant. The theoretical basis of the analysis combines spatial planning and sociology of law, applying the sociological concept of norms as entities controlling action on the discussion of two different paradigms of governance derived from planning theory. The thesis project has been a part of a study within the MiSt programme, an interdisciplinary research programme on tools for environmental assessment in strategic decision making funded by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Supervisors: professor Lars Emmelin, School of Planning, Blekinge Institute of Technology Karsten Åström, professor in sociology of law, Lund University
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| 2. |
- Vuorio, Tuomas
(författare)
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Information on recreation and tourism in spatial planning in the Swedish mountains : methods and need for knowledge
- 2003
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Swedish mountain region makes up about one third of the country but includes less than 2 per cent of the population. It stretches for over 1000 km and includes 90 per cent of the total nature conservation area in Sweden. With its 8000 km of hiking trails and 100 mountain huts and lodges it is one of the most important areas for outdoor recreation and tourism - visited by one fourth of the Swedish adult population every year. With the current decline of the extractive industries tourism has become an important development issue in the area. Effective spatial planning in the mountains presupposes good information on tourism and outdoor recreation. Municipalities need adequate data to base planning on. One precondition for more effective information supply to spatial planning is research and development of methods. It must be possible to follow developments, predict environmental effects and effects on user attitudes, satisfaction etc. There are big differences between visitors in the mountains. Their needs and interest in different nature experiences, their tolerance towards crowding and contacts with other users vary a lot. It is important for planning and management to find out which qualities users are looking for and appreciating and to have a clear picture of the variance between different users. Management of recreation areas is normally combined with conservation and often has two goals: i) to maintain “natural conditions” and ii) to provide recreation opportunities. These two goals will often be contradictory. Resolving this conflict is both a theoretical and practical problem. The discourse within spatial planning differs from the nature conservation discourse. While the nature conservation discourse comes from a tradition of “calculating rationality” and a scientific, central view that points out the foremost values – “national interests”, national parks, world heritage areas – the basis of the spatial planning ideology in Sweden is a conception of local, political decision making. The Swedish planning system with a planning monopoly and veto of the municipalities is in theory a system with deliberative or communicative rationality: the plan is supposed to express citizens’ will and needs expressed through their representatives. How to provide the planning system with relevant information on different levels, i.e. information that can be used for predicting different reactions to different management actions in order to be able to handle conflicts will be one of the central questions in the thesis. Special attention will be paid to different methods of measuring nature tourism and outdoor recreation. Self registration combined with satisfactory studies on non participation can give a relatively good synoptic picture of the use of the area. At the same time it is obvious that the non participation varies too much geographically and between different points of time for self registration alone to be used for studying frequencies and patterns of use. Flight observations carried out as a part of the study in Södra Jämtlandsfjällen (article II) proved to be a good method of studying the patterns of camping. They were also important for conflict analysis and studying divergences. The indirect methods for estimating the total number of visitors have to be calibrated often, which can be difficult (for example number of visitors in a car or a buss). The indirect methods risk missing factors that make it possible to get indications of possible tendencies in the use of an area. In situations where conflicts exist, it is important that the picture of the present situation is well established and legitimate. This means that both methods and the actors participating in the study have to be experienced as legitimate by all parties taking part in the planning process. A general conclusion is that there are not any good shortcuts to useful knowledge about outdoor recreation and tourism for planning as a whole, for management or for EIA. Need for predictions is far too big to make indirect data useful alone. Three studies are presented: i) a national screener study on current tourism patterns in the Swedish mountain region, ii) a case study among the visitors in Södra Jämtlandsfjällen and iii) a case study among the residents in Södra Jämtlandsfjällen.
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| 3. |
- Björkman, Christina
(författare)
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Challenging Canon : The Gender Question in Computer Science
- 2002
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The gender question in computer science is often presented as: "Why are there so few women in computer science and what can be done about that?" This question usually focuses on women. Sometimes 'men' or 'gender' enter the discussions. However, it is not common that the second part of the sentence - computer science - is considered. The papers in this thesis challenge, in different ways, how the gender question is usually perceived and discussed within the community of computer scientists, and where solutions are looked for. The approach taken is to move focus from women/gender to the discipline of computer science itself. This means the question is raised towards a more general level, towards "the science question", discussing the discipline, its paradigms and knowledge processes. Theories and methodologies from gender research, used within computer science, offer new possibilities to develop broader and more complex understandings of "the gender question in computer science".
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| 4. |
- Elovaara, Pirjo
(författare)
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Heterogeneous hybrids : Information Technology in Texts and Practices
- 2001
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How could one understand and interpret the phenomenon of information technology, is the overall research question of this licentiate dissertation. The point of departure is the way some official texts in Sweden define the concept of information technology. It is possible to identify two dominating discourses; the technical and the social. In the first paper, empirical material from the Women Writing on the Net-project is mirrored against these dominating discourses. In the second paper, the focus is on how the dominating discourses are translated into librarians´ work practices and how librarians shape and transform information technology. How could one understand librarians´ ways of talking about information technology where the two separate discourses of information technology identified in the official texts do not seem to be identified as pure and separable phenomena? Feminist theories, feminist technoscientific studies and ´actor-network theory´ offer epistemological and analytical frames and screens necessary to understand information technology as a hybrid involving numerous heterogeneous elements. Introduction to the Papers Paper One, Discourses and Cracks - A Case Study of Information Technology and Writing Women in a Regional Context, is the first paper where empirical material from a local IT project is used and discussed and where it is mirrored against the dominating discourses of information technology. The first part of this paper discusses information technology as a political and practical discourse which is in part shaped by the repetition of an exalted rhetoric. This repetitive discursive model can be distinguished in global, regional and local contexts and reflects an optimistic belief in technology as an independent power that automatically furthers democratic development. Is it really this simple? The analysis includes a discussion of the concept of ´universal citizenship´ in a context of women's experiences in Sweden. The second part of the paper presents empirical material and experiences from the Women Writing on the Net-project (this is included in the framework of the DIALOGUE project, which was partly funded by ISPO/EU). The aim was to create a virtual space for women on the Internet and to explore the writing process in terms of aim, tool and method. The method of approach incorporated reflections and discussions about empowerment, democracy and representation of women. This created a more complex understanding of the values of the predominant IT discourses, and revealed the "cracks" in, and possibilities of feminist redefinitions of these values. In Paper Two, Translating and Negotiating Information Technology: Discourses and Practices, I continue exploration of my overall research question "What is information technology?" I study the dominating discourses of information technology; these I call "the technical suit" and the "social suit." In my empirical field studies among librarians in southeast Sweden I explore how the two faces of information technology - the technical and the social - are translated into librarians´ work practices. I study a project which was defined by the librarians themselves as an information technology project. I investigate how this project complies with the social/societal definitions of information technology, and how it complies with the technical definitions of information technology. In my second empirical study, I use two case studies with librarians involved in constructing web sites on the Internet. The Internet and the web are often seen in part as an open and undefined landscape in which new actors can move freely and build new partnerships, and partly as a shadow landscape of existing structures and relationships which can close up new openings. In the concluding discussion, I state that information technology seems to be both an amoeba and a chameleon. One minute it is a very pure and complicated technical story told by technicians. The next minute, it changes and turns into a financial story told by business people. It subsequently turns out to be an educational story told by teachers. It is also, however, a household story told by computer people. I suggest that information technology is impure. It is a hybrid. Inspired by Donna Haraways´s technoscientific metaphor of cyborg I claim that information technology is a cyborg in itself. In the third paper, From Networks to Fluids and Fires - A Prelude to Actor-Network Theory, I discuss a method of analysis I have tried to apply to my empirical material. I explore the notions of Actor-Network Theory (ANT), and Actor-Network Theory and After (ANTA). My point of departure is the way some official texts in Sweden define the concept of information technology by stressing the technical aspects of IT; at the same time they present information technology as a motor and a driving force for many sectors of society. In my research, I have discussed with librarians how they shape and transform information technology in their own work practices. The problems of analysing this empirical material started when the librarians started to talk about people, machines and money all in one breath. How could one understand their way of talking about information technology where the two separate lines of information technology identified in the official texts did not seem to be identified as pure and separable phenomena? How was it possible to understand the concept of information technology as it was used by the librarians, who seemed to involve all kinds of different heterogeneous elements which at first sight were very far away from information technology? It was when asking these questions that I discovered ANT and ANTA. In this paper, I present some basic ideas about these two research approaches by reading and analysing articles published between 1980 and the year 2000. In addition to the ANT and ANTA perspectives, I also introduce my own research questions: story telling and epistemological problematisations closely connected with feminist theories are, for example, closely intertwined in this paper.
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| 5. |
- Acevedo Peña, Carlos Gonzalo
(författare)
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Developing Inclusive Innovation Processes and Co-Evolutionary Approaches in Bolivia
- 2015
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The concept of National Innovation Systems (NIS) has been widely adopted in developing countries, particularly in Latin American countries, for the last two decades. The concept is used mainly as an ex-ante framework to organize and increase the dynamics of those institutions linked to science, technology and innovation, for catching-up processes of development. In the particular case of Bolivia, and after several decades of social and economic crisis, the promise of a national innovation system reconciles a framework for collaboration between the university, the government and the socio-productive sectors. Dynamics of collaboration generated within NIS can be a useful tool for the pursuit of inclusive development ambitions. This thesis is focused on inclusive innovation processes and the generation of co-evolutionary processes between university, government and socio-productive sectors. This is the result of 8 years of participatory action research influenced by Mode 2 knowledge-production and Technoscientific approaches. The study explores the policy paths the Bolivian government has followed in the last three decades in order to organize science, technology and innovation. It reveals that Bolivia has an emerging national innovation system, where its demand-pulled innovation model presents an inclusive approach. Innovation policy efforts in Bolivia are led by the Vice-Ministry of Science and Technology (VCyT). Moreover, NIS involves relational and collaborative approaches between institutions, which imply structural and organizational challenges, particularly for public universities, as they concentrate most of the research capabilities in the country. These universities are challenged to participate in NIS within contexts of weak demanding sectors. This research focuses on the early empirical approaches and transformations at Universidad Mayor de San Simón (UMSS) in Cochabamba. The aim to strengthen internal innovation capabilities of the university and enhance the relevance of research activities in society by supporting socio-economic development in the framework of innovation systems is led by the Technology Transfer Unit (UTT) at UMSS. UTT has become a recognized innovation facilitator unit, inside and outside the university, by proposing pro-active initiatives to support emerging innovation systems. Because of its complexity, the study focuses particularly on cluster development promoted by UTT. Open clusters are based on linking mechanisms between the university research capabilities, the socio-productive actors and government. Cluster development has shown to be a practical mechanism for the university to meet the demanding sector (government and socio-productive actors) and to develop trust-based inclusive innovation processes. The experiences from cluster activities have inspired the development of new research policies at UMSS, with a strong orientation to foster research activities towards an increased focus on socio-economic development. The experiences gained at UMSS are discussed and presented as a “developmental university” approach. Inclusive innovation processes with co-evolutionary approaches seem to constitute an alternative path supporting achievement of inclusive development ambitions in Bolivia.
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| 6. |
- Afzal, Wasif
(författare)
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Search-based approaches to software fault prediction and software testing
- 2009
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Software verification and validation activities are essential for software quality but also constitute a large part of software development costs. Therefore efficient and cost-effective software verification and validation activities are both a priority and a necessity considering the pressure to decrease time-to-market and intense competition faced by many, if not all, companies today. It is then perhaps not unexpected that decisions related to software quality, when to stop testing, testing schedule and testing resource allocation needs to be as accurate as possible. This thesis investigates the application of search-based techniques within two activities of software verification and validation: Software fault prediction and software testing for non-functional system properties. Software fault prediction modeling can provide support for making important decisions as outlined above. In this thesis we empirically evaluate symbolic regression using genetic programming (a search-based technique) as a potential method for software fault predictions. Using data sets from both industrial and open-source software, the strengths and weaknesses of applying symbolic regression in genetic programming are evaluated against competitive techniques. In addition to software fault prediction this thesis also consolidates available research into predictive modeling of other attributes by applying symbolic regression in genetic programming, thus presenting a broader perspective. As an extension to the application of search-based techniques within software verification and validation this thesis further investigates the extent of application of search-based techniques for testing non-functional system properties. Based on the research findings in this thesis it can be concluded that applying symbolic regression in genetic programming may be a viable technique for software fault prediction. We additionally seek literature evidence where other search-based techniques are applied for testing of non-functional system properties, hence contributing towards the growing application of search-based techniques in diverse activities within software verification and validation.
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| 7. |
- Ahmadi Mehri, Vida, 1980-
(författare)
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Towards Secure Collaborative AI Service Chains
- 2019
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- At present, Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems have been adopted in many different domains such as healthcare, robotics, automotive, telecommunication systems, security, and finance for integrating intelligence in their services and applications. The intelligent personal assistant such as Siri and Alexa are examples of AI systems making an impact on our daily lives. Since many AI systems are data-driven systems, they require large volumes of data for training and validation, advanced algorithms, computing power and storage in their development process. Collaboration in the AI development process (AI engineering process) will reduce cost and time for the AI applications in the market. However, collaboration introduces the concern of privacy and piracy of intellectual properties, which can be caused by the actors who collaborate in the engineering process. This work investigates the non-functional requirements, such as privacy and security, for enabling collaboration in AI service chains. It proposes an architectural design approach for collaborative AI engineering and explores the concept of the pipeline (service chain) for chaining AI functions. In order to enable controlled collaboration between AI artefacts in a pipeline, this work makes use of virtualisation technology to define and implement Virtual Premises (VPs), which act as protection wrappers for AI pipelines. A VP is a virtual policy enforcement point for a pipeline and requires access permission and authenticity for each element in a pipeline before the pipeline can be used. Furthermore, the proposed architecture is evaluated in use-case approach that enables quick detection of design flaw during the initial stage of implementation. To evaluate the security level and compliance with security requirements, threat modeling was used to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities of the system and analyses their possible effects. The output of threat modeling was used to define countermeasure to threats related to unauthorised access and execution of AI artefacts.
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| 8. |
- Andreasson, Eskil
(författare)
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Realistic Package Opening Simulations : An Experimental Mechanics and Physics Based Approach
- 2015
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A finite element modeling strategy targeting package opening simulations is the final goal with this work. The developed simulation model will be used to proactively predict the opening compatibility early in the development process of a new opening device and/or a new packaging material. To be able to create such a model, the focus is to develop a combined and integrated physical/virtual test procedure for mechanical characterization and calibration of thin packaging materials. Furthermore, the governing mechanical properties of the materials involved in the opening performance needs to be identified and quantified with experiments. Different experimental techniques complemented with video recording equipment were refined and utilized during the course of work. An automatic or semi-automatic material model parameter identification process involving video capturing of the deformation process and inverse modeling is proposed for the different packaging material layers. Both an accurate continuum model and a damage material model, used in the simulation model, were translated and extracted from the experimental test results. The results presented show that it is possible to select constitutive material models in conjunction with continuum material damage models, adequately predicting the mechanical behavior of intended failure in thin laminated packaging materials. A thorough material mechanics understanding of individual material layers evolution of microstructure and the micro mechanisms involved in the deformation process is essential for appropriate selection of numerical material models. Finally, with a slight modification of already available techniques and functionalities in the commercial finite element software AbaqusTM it was possible to build the suitable simulation model. To build a realistic simulation model an accurate description of the geometrical features is important. Therefore, advancements within the experimental visualization techniques utilizing a combination of video recording, photoelasticity and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) of the micro structure have enabled extraction of geometries and additional information from ordinary standard experimental tests. Finally, a comparison of the experimental opening and the virtual opening, showed a good correlation with the developed finite element modeling technique. The advantage with the developed modeling approach is that it is possible to modify the material composition of the laminate. Individual material layers can be altered and the mechanical properties, thickness or geometrical shape can be changed. Furthermore, the model is flexible and a new opening device i.e. geometry and load case can easily be adopted in the simulation model. Therefore, this type of simulation model is a useful tool and can be used for decision support early in the concept selection of development projects.
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| 9. |
- Ankre, Rosemarie
(författare)
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Understanding the visitor : A prerequisite for coastal zone planning
- 2007
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Planning for tourism and outdoor recreation in coastal areas could be improved with knowledge of visitors´ attitudes, experiences, activities and geographical dispersion. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the knowledge of visitors in planning for tourism and outdoor recreation. The Luleå archipelago in Northern Sweden was used as a case study.
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| 10. |
- Ayers, James, 1983-
(författare)
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Educational contexts and designs for cultivating leaders capable of addressing the wicked issues of sustainability transitions.
- 2020
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The ongoing sustainability crisis offer numerous, multifaced societal challenges as a result of the ongoing degradation of socio-ecological systems by human activity causing massive ecological damage and human suffering. Overcoming these difficulties begs for the rapid transition of society towards sustainability. This desire for urgent action has been hindered by the lack of coordinated global leadership focused on addressing these challenges and implementing a transition towards a sustainable future. The sustainability crisis and its manifestations, which include for example climate change, air and water pollution, deforestation and social segregation, are interconnected and volatile issues whose parts influence and impact each other causing the crisis to worsen. The earth system is pushed towards tipping points from beyond which it may become impossible to maintain the human civilization. The failure of leadership to address the wicked nature of these crises means humanity has been left ill-equipped to deal with the complex problems of sustainability. This thesis considers the role of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in overcoming these issues and operating as a leverage point towards sustainability. It focuses on investigating how the development of sustainability leadership education in Higher Education can contribute to addressing the sustainability crisis. It looks at the role that educators can play in designing learning environments that ensure leaders and leadership capable of addressing wicked problems posed by global unsustainability. The aim of this research is to investigate what educators should consider when designing learning environments that promote the qualities needed for leading in complexity towards sustainability. It does this by examining a number of ESD programs as case studies to investigate the efficacy of those programs at creating sustainability outcomes within their students. It also undertakes a literature review to describe and articulate the unique challenges faced by sustainability leaders from a personal and professional perspective. The study is situated closely to the ongoing ESD discussion regarding competencies-based learning for sustainability and the research aims to provide some contribution to that dialogue. It does this through the investigation of competencies acquisition and the discussion of emerging areas of leadership that may hold beneficial outcomes for the development and practice of sustainability leaders. The results of the thesis suggest a number of outcomes for consideration by educators and include a number of main findings. Firstly, educational programs can be capable of achieving the acquisition of ‘sustainability’ competencies within their students, but if these competencies are not taught within a larger sustainability contextualization, then students can fail to see the purpose of the competencies ‘for’ sustainability. Secondly, reflective practices, developed as the result of reflective pedagogies, can provide beneficial qualities in students as future sustainability leaders and require distinct pedagogical structures in order to guide reflective practices towards sustainability outcomes. Finally, a number of unique personal and professional challenges to sustainability leadership exist and need to be overcome if the domain of sustainability is to ensure the ongoing resilience and wellbeing of individuals and groups acting as sustainability leaders. This research suggests a novel contribution to a number of areas within ESD research, including creating knowledge within the competencies discussion regarding emerging areas of study that may influence the future of defined sustainability competencies. It also highlights the need for educators to consider the role of wellbeing and resilience in current and future sustainability leaders.
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