Aktuella disputationer

River fragmentation caused by hydropower and adjacent infrastructure disrupts diadromous fish migration, contributing to steep population declines. Although efforts for reinstating upstream passage began earlier, the importance of downstream passage is becoming recognized as integral to restoring connectivity. During downstream migration, the fish follow the main current, which at hydropower sites often leads towards the turbines. Even when bypasses exist, unless enough water flows to them, fish often miss them, and guidance is necessary. Physical guidance, such as fine screens, is often effective at small and medium-sized power plants but is harder to scale for large facilities. As an alternative, behavioural guidance systems, which use sensory cues for guidance, have been explored. These are generally easier to implement and scale, but their effectiveness varies. Therefore, there is a need for effective, practical, and scalable guidance strategies.

The thesis addresses this goal by testing fish responses to different guidance methods and reviewing behavioural solutions. The results indicated that bubble curtains had little potential for eel guidance, while the novel “dancing rods” barrier showed potential for guiding salmon smolts. For post-spawning trout kelts, local flow injections triggered avoidance, suggesting engineered currents can aid behavioural guidance. The thesis also explored heart rates of salmon smolts in a social context, showing that isolation from group increases experienced stress. Overall behavioural guidance can be a valuable part of adaptive, site-specific downstream strategies when tailored to fish biology and local hydraulic conditions, although it is unlikely to become a universal fix. By integrating ecohydraulics, fish behaviour, and stress physiology, this thesis advances knowledge on protective tools for downstream migrants in fragmented rivers.

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Informationstekniken skapar nya möjligheter för enskilda. En sådan möjlighet är användandet av tekniska verktyg för anonymitet för att överföra information utan att identifieras. En annan är att kryptera information så att den blir oåtkomlig för den som inte vet lösenordet. Den här typen av verktyg utvecklas bland annat för att kunna användas av dissidenter i auktoritära stater – men tekniken känner inga gränser.

I avhandlingen utreds hur straffrätten som medel för att säkra skyddsintressen förhåller sig till en konflikt mellan å ena sidan tekniska verktyg för kryptering och anonymitet, å andra sidan straffprocessuella möjligheter till informationsåtkomst. Ämnet undersöks genom att den här konfliktlinjen sätts i relation till gränserna för kriminalisering som skapats för att skydda den enskildes personliga integritet – olaga integritetsintrång i brottsbalkens 4 kap. 6 c §.

I slutsatserna anges bland annat att problemen för straffrätten i anonyma nätmiljöer är ett utflöde av en principiell konflikt mellan två motstående former av rättighetsskydd; en konflikt som blir särskilt tydlig i förhållande till integritetsbegreppet. Samtidigt nås slutsatsen att det finns goda möjligheter att genom förändringar i den undersökta regleringens konstruktion göra denna mer ändamålsenlig i anonyma nätmiljöer.

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Ambulance nurses are an important part of the acute care trajectory. Since 2005, Swedish regulations require that every ambulance is staffed by at least one registered nurse. Although specialist training is not mandatory but it is considered beneficial due to the increasing complexity of prehospital care. To support competence development, Swedish prehospital care utilizes concept-based courses such as AMLS, PHTLS, TNCC, and PS. These courses aim to enhance nurses’ ability to manage complex situations. The overall aim of this thesis is to explore ambulance nurses’ self-assessed professional competence, and to assess the impact of participation in concept-based courses on their self-assessed professional competence. Several factors influence ambulance nurses' competence, including education level, work experience, and personal attributes. Specialist nurses often report higher competence in specific areas. Participation in concept-based courses was linked to significantly higher self-assessed competence, particularly in Medical-Technical Care, Supervision, and Leadership. PHTLS and AMLS demonstrated the broadest impact, while PS contributed primarily to improvements in Supervision and Professional Conduct. Further research is needed to understand how various educational interventions such as formal education, specialist training, ongoing development and how it can optimize competence growth. The goal is to establish evidence-based strategies that enhance professional development and improve patient safety. This thesis provides knowledge that can support evidence-based improvements in prehospital care, by highlighting ambulance nurses’ self-assessed competence and the perceived impact of concept-based courses.

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As brain development begins early in pregnancy, exposure to environmental factors during this sensitive period can interfere with this process. This thesis explores two such factors—endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and their mixtures and adverse life events—in relation to neurodevelopmental outcomes, along with the biological mechanisms that may explain these associations. We used data from the Swedish Environmental Longitudinal Mother and child Asthma and allergy (SELMA) study, which included pregnant women in Värmland and followed them until the children were 7.5 years old. The exposures of interest were urine and serum concentrations of EDCs and adverse life events during pregnancy within the family. The neurodevelopmental outcomes of interest were behavioural difficulties, autistic traits and cognitive function.

Prenatal exposure to EDC mixtures was associated with behavioural outcomes in children at 7.5 years, with differences observed between boys and girls. Maternal thyroid function emerged as a potential biological mechanism underlying these associations. Furthermore, adverse life events during pregnancy were linked to behavioural, but not cognitive outcomes, in the offspring. Lastly, children's play behaviour was associated with behavioural outcomes.

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Analogies are appreciated explanatory tools in science teaching. However, analogies may cause misconceptions. Science teachers therefore need competence in how to use analogies. This thesis defines analogy competence for science teachers through a literature review in which key aspects of teaching with analogies were constructed into the Analogy Competence for Science Teachers (ACT) framework. It comprises three interrelated dimensions, conceptual, procedural and performance, grounded in the Competence-Performance model proposed by Weinert (1999). Conceptual analogy competence includes selecting accurate analogies, procedural involves context-sensitive planning, and performance refers to teaching. The thesis validates ACT with upper secondary biology pre-service teachers, demonstrating its utility for evaluating and monitoring analogy competences. The findings support an extension of the ACT framework to include subject-specific conceptual competence as a conceptual sub-competence. The research presented here offers a theoretically grounded and empirically supported framework for science education and science teacher education, clarifying what teachers need to know, consider, and master for effective teaching with analogies.

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The nurses’ scope of practice defines their roles and functions, addressing the fundamental physical, relational, and psychosocial needs of individuals requiring care. This understanding is conceptually linked to what nursing is and serves as an expression of professional identity.

While the fundamentals of care are central to nursing, the scope of practice for addressing older people’s fundamental care needs in long-term care is sparsely described in the literature and often viewed in isolation rather than within the systems and contexts in which it occurs. This thesis explores nursing practice in long-term care, employing a contextual lens to examine how environmental factors influence the professional working environment, nurses’ scope of practice, and their activities related to the fundamentals of care.

Insights are based on a pragmatic, fixed sequential mixed-methods design, employing diverse approaches to explore the core concepts underpinning this work. The findings are applicable to nurses, leaders, managers, educators, and policymakers, offering insights to improve the professional working environment, enhance the scope of practice, and elevate the quality of fundamentals of care in long-term care settings.

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