The phenomenon of climate change is widely recognized and declared as the single most threatening issue of the 21st century (UN Environment, 2018). In this context, the presented study is aligned with scientific research on the domain of sustainable development and sustainability transitions aiming to counterbalance climate change and its impact on this planet as much as possible. This research focuses on Green Bonds as a financial tool to promote this kind of climate-resilient transition. Professionals from the financial sectors of the Swedish Green Bond market were interviewed, reflecting current opinions and strategies of one of the most developed and progressive nations in the world. The goal is to understand the dynamics behind the development of the Green Bond market using the Multi-Level Perspective framework and to find out to what extent these experts view Green Bonds as a tool in the process of sustainability transitions. The findings firstly point out the role of the different actors of the Green Bond market, describing the interactions between investors, issuers banks, politics and advisors. In addition, the results show that the opinions on drivers and barriers amongst the interviewees and between the interviewees and literature differ somewhat.  In particular, greenwashing, lacking transparency and missing standardization are seen by some of the different interviewed stakeholders to be less barriers but rather as opportunities. In conclusion, this study points out the particular influence that politics, as representant of the strongly environmentally aware people of Sweden, occupy in steering the market’s development and describes its importance as regulatory drivers of Green Bonds as a tool for sustainability transitions and sustainable development. / Mänskligheten står inför en global utmaning; att kollektivt bekämpa den mänskligt orsakade klimatförändringen (UN Environment, 2018). Det är från detta sammanhang som denna studie ursprungar, där teorier inom vetenskaplig forskning för området hållbarhetsutveckling och hållbarhet förändringar används för att bekämpa klimatförändringens inverkan. Denna forskning fokuserar särskilt på gröna obligationens roll för en hållbar klimatrelaterad utveckling i det svenska samhället. För att utvärdera den svenska marknaden för gröna obligationer intervjuades experter inom området utvalda på basis av post och sektor. Målet med en kvalitativ forskningsmetod är att förstå de bakomliggande faktorerna för den progressiva utvecklingen i Sverige. Detta görs ytterligare genom ”The Multi-Level Perspective framework” för att kontextualisera experternas insyn på hur gröna obligationer kan användas som verktyg för hållbarhetsutveckling. Kartläggningen användes för att beskriva dynamiken mellan obligations utfärdaren, investerare, banker samt rådgivare i Sverige. Intervjuerna visade på nyanser inom dagens teori och praktik avseende hur man utvärderar tillväxten på den gröna obligationsmarknaden och framförallt gällande integritet faktorer som standardisering och transparens. Ett bristande ramverk kan ses som en möjlighet för tillväxt istället för ett hinder. Sammanfattningsvis understryker undersökningen politikernas inflytande för att kunna omvandla gröna obligationer från en nisch till en standardprodukt i samhället. Detta påvisar effektiviteten inom den svenska gröna obligationsmarknaden, där hög grad av miljömedvetenhet hos befolkningen blivit representerad i politiken.

The banking sector is experiencing the rise of several new types of innovations and trends. For instance, increased use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to streamline day-to-day activities. These trends are, e.g., influenced by an increased frequency of cyber attacks, the emergence of newly proposed regulations such as DORA and the AI Act, and the improving computational capabilities of AI-driven systems. The full impact these trends will have on the sector is yet to be realized. The sector is diverse and deeply integrated within society, meaning that it is critical to understand how actors mitigate the risks associated with the implementation of AI. This study analyzes how organizations can mitigate the risks involved with this implementation and how it affects the risk management process. To examine the implementation of AI in the banking sector, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with twelve respondents with expertise in AI, security, or the banking sector. The study used two theoretical frameworks to analyze the data. The first framework, the Dynamic Risk Management Framework, was used to analyze changes in the risk management process based on its unique position within society. The second framework, the Multi-Level Perspective, gave the study a holistic understanding of the impact of AI as a driver of a socio-technical shift. The results show that the implementation of AI leads to a set of new risks. These risks are primarily organizational and regulatory and will lead to a revision in how actors classify risks. The constant evolution of AI also means that products must be reviewed periodically, changing how actors view the risk management process. Additionally, the results identify a lack of knowledge regarding both AI and security within the sector. Consequently, the organization will have to change its structure to accommodate interactions between different competencies. To succeed in implementing AI, meet the regulatory demands and mitigate unintended bias when developing AI, the study concludes that these competencies must create a shared terminology to communicate efficiently. In conclusion, the study contributes to a growing field regarding business applications of AI by creating a holistic understanding of aspects impacting the risk management process in banking. The findings result in a series of recommended actions for organizations that aim to implement AI in their businesses. Further research is recommended to understand the long-term effects of these actions. Future in depth analyses could validate the results of this study and further investigate the development of AI as a business tool. / Banksektorn upplever en uppåtgående trend när det kommer till användandet av innovation. Ett exempel på detta är användningen av artificiell intelligens (AI) för att effektivisera bankens dagliga aktiviteter. Denna trend beror på flertalet olika faktorer, bland annat den ökade frekvensen av cyberattacker mot bankaktörer, de nya föreslagna förordningarna DORA och AI Act, och att AI-drivna systems kapacitet förbättras. Däremot har inte effekten av AI på sektorn ännu realiserats till fullo. Banksektorn har en unik position i samhället och dess aktörer har många olika utmaningar, vilket innebär att det är avgörande att förstå hur aktörerna hanterar de risker som uppstår i samband med implementeringen av AI. Denna studie analyserar hur organisationer kan minska riskerna med denna implementering och hur AI påverkar riskhanteringsprocessen. För att undersöka implementeringen har studien genomfört semistrukturerade intervjuer med tolv intervjuobjekt med expertis inom AI, säkerhet eller banksektorn. För att analysera den framtagna datan har studien använt två teoretiska ramverk. Det första ramverket, som kallas Dynamic Risk Management Framework, användes för att analysera förändringar i riskhanteringsprocessen med tanke på banksektorns unika position i samhället. Det andra ramverket, som kallas Multi-Level Perspective, undersökte AI som en drivkraft mot ett sociotekniskt skifte och gav därmed studien en helhetsbildav effekten av AI. Resultaten visar att implementeringen av AI leder till en rad nya risker. Dessa risker är i första hand organisatoriska och regulatoriska. Då dessa är relativt nya, måste organisationer se över hur de klassificerar risker. AI utvecklas kontinuerligt, vilket innebär att produkterna och deras effekt måste ses över regelbundet. Dessutom identifierar resultaten en brist på kunskap om både AI och säkerhet inom banksektorn. För att tillgodose nya kompetenser och underlätta interaktionerna mot existerande kompetenser kommer organisationer behöva struktureras om. Studien drar slutsatsen att en lyckad AI implementering, där de regulatoriska kraven möts och utveckling av AI är fri från oavsiktliga fördomar och diskriminering, kräver en rad förändringar. Organisationen måste kunna kommunicera effektivt, vilket kräver att alla pratar samma språk och använder samma terminologi. Sammanfattningsvis bidrar studien till ett växande akademiskt område gällande affärstillämpningar av AI genom att skapa en helhetsbild över vilka aspekter som påverkar riskhanteringsprocessen inom bankverksamhet. Denna summering har resulterat i en rad åtgärder verksamheter som strävar efter att implementera AI rekommenderas att ta. Framtida studier rekommenderas däremot att undersöka de långsiktiga effekterna av dessa åtgärder. Genom att utföra djupgående analyser kanframtida studier inte bara validera denna studies resultat, de kan också förbättra förståelsen för hur AI som ett affärsverktyg kan komma att utvecklas.

There are many challenges facing the aerospace industry that can be addressed with new concepts, technologies, and materials. However, current design methods make it difficult to include these new ideas early in the design of aircraft. This is especially true in the structures discipline, which often uses weight-based methods based upon statistical regressions of historical data. A way to address this is to use physics-based structural analysis and design to create more detailed structural data. Thus, the overall research objective of this dissertation is to develop a physics-based structural analysis method to incorporate new concepts, technologies, and materials into the conceptual design phase. The design space of physics-based structural design problem is characterized as highly multimodal with numerous discontinuities; thus, a large number of alternatives must be explored. Current physics-based structural design methods tend to use high fidelity modeling and analysis tools that are computationally expensive. This dissertation proposes a modeling & simulation environment based on classical structural analysis methods. Using classical structural analysis will enable increased exploration of the design space by reducing the overall run time necessary to evaluate one alternative. The use of physics-based structural optimization using classical structural analysis is tested through experimentation. First the underlying hypotheses are tested in a canonical example by comparing different optimization algorithms ability to locate a global optimum identified through design space exploration. Then the proposed method is compared to a method based on higher fidelity finite element analysis as well as a method based on weight-based empirical data to validate the overall research objective.

The "digital library" (DL) is a communication technology that has the potential to improve communication by removing temporal and geographic barriers and by introducing interactivity. This research focused on the adoption of digital libraries for electronic theses and dissertations (ETD-DL) at universities worldwide. ETD-DLs provide a means for universities to learn about implementing digital libraries in a networked environment.This research used diffusion of innovation theory to explore what has influenced ETD-DL adoption among Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) member universities. Communication channels were categorized as being either interpersonal or mediated. The perceived importance of these channels was assessed both within and between organizations. Although ETD-DL adoption is an organizational level decision it has implications for both the university and members of the university community. In some cases, these outcomes may be in conflict; for example, what is best for the organization may result in complications for an individual. Therefore the perceived importance of two innovation attributes, relative advantage and compatibility, were examined at both the collective and individual level.This study employed a web-based survey to collect data from the 133 universities in 26 countries that were NDLTD members in December 2002. Respondents were members of the university's "ETD Committee" and represented academic administrators, faculty, librarians, and computer systemsspecialists. Surveys were received from 95 respondents representing 65 universities in 14 countries. Twenty-one of these universities were outside the United States. Universities were from countries with a wide range of economic development.Results provide insights into university attitudes towards a technological innovation for knowledge dissemination. For example, results suggest that interpersonal channels of communication are more important than mediated channels within the organization. Additionally, interpersonal channels are more important for communication within the organization than between organizations. However, mediated channels of communication are more important for those universities that have decided to adopt the ETD-DL but have not yet implemented the union catalog or self-archiving options. There were also significant differences in the importance attributed to these channels by individuals in different jobs. The results also suggest strategies that could encourage development of digital libraries within a social system.

<p>The need for effective multi-level governance arrangements is becoming increasingly apparent because of the high functional interdependencies between biophysical and socioeconomic factors in the realm of natural resource governance. Such arrangements provide a basis for the exchange, discussion, and deliberation of information, knowledge, and data across diverse user groups and entities. Multi-level governance is operationalized by using a microinstitutional analysis that links decision-making arenas across three distinct levels: operational, collective-choice, and constitutional. Within this context, I argue that the effectiveness and success of actors' participatory processes across these three levels depend on the amount of social capital among actors within the governance system. I assessed the concept of social capital using two different models: (1) a structural approach focused on resources embedded within an individual's network, and (2) a combined structural-cultural approach that incorporates various aspects of group membership with relations of trust, rules, and norms. To explore the effects of social capital on participatory processes related to the implementation and management of natural resources, I analyzed different small-scale fisheries governance regimes from the Gulf of California, Mexico. I collected data using surveys (n=371), interviews (n=82), and participant observation techniques conducted among the residents of four small-scale fishing communities that live adjacent to marine protected areas along the Baja California, Mexico, peninsula. Data analysis included both quantitative (logit regression model), and qualitative (narrative analysis) approaches. Overall, my results suggest that both social capital models reveal the multidimensional nature of social capital where none of its individual types form a consistent and statistically significant relationship with the six outcomes that I measured. However, these types are related in different ways to fishers engagement in participatory processess across the three levels. The extent of fishers' engagement in participatory processess across different levels was not high. Qualitative analysis revealed that participatory processes related to fisheries conservation and management, although present do not reach their full potential and are stymied by a historical context and a lack of general participatory culture.</p> / Dissertation

This thesis explores the capacity of local government to influence intergovernmental organizations’ policy frameworks during the formulation and implementation of their instruments and policies. It provides empirical insights into the decision making and implementation of international policy regimes, specifically within a European context, and contributes to the broader theoretical understanding of these regimes through the development of multi-level governance as a framework of analysis. The thesis extends multi-level governance as a theoretical framework in two ways. First, it does so by going beyond its usual development and application within the European Union. The role of local government is examined in the pan-European political context shaped by the Council of Europe. Second, it pays special attention to the upstream link between local authorities and international actors in the context of multi-level governance settings. To date, most research on local government in multi-level governance settings has focused on the new challenges brought by extended multiple tiers of jurisdictions and how local government has been affected by the internationally shaped political arrangements. Little attention has been placed on the upward flow of interaction of local authorities or their capacity to influence international decision making and policy implementation. Empirical research in this thesis has focused on the capacity of local government to share the meta-steering role with the multi-level governance framework. The potential of local government to influence the international policy frameworks has been investigated based on its unique value in enhancing good governance in line with international norms and principles. At the theoretical level, the research argues multi-level governance reflects not simply the redistribution of power resources among various actors, but also the process of reshaping understanding and preferences through direct communication between actors at different territorial levels. It suggests that local political preferences can be shaped and reframed by broader values and consequently generates significant influence on higher level policy outcomes. However, despite the existence of specific constitutional devices for involving local development in the legislative processes of the Council of Europe, empirical evidence shows local authorities have largely failed to take up this opportunity, and their influence remains limited. Implications hence can be drawn for wider utilization of local engagement in intergovernmental organizations; for example, within the context the Committee of the Regions of the Europe Union.

The aim of this thesis is to study the role and the influence of the Swedish local government association, SALAR, which is an interest group representing all of the Swedish local authorities and regions. As a result of a change in exercising public power from government to multi-level governance that has reinforced subnational level, including local authorities and regions, SALAR is today a significant actor. It has an intermediating role in the relation between the government and local and regional authorities. SALAR is a hybrid organization that has interest group and governmental characteristics. It is a player competing with other interest groups in a pluralistic system but it is also a corporatist negotiation partner of the government that has a privileged access to central government decision-making. This study uses a comparative case study method analyzing two policy processes to study and describe what kind of role and influence SALAR has in these processes and how the role and the influence of SALAR can be understood from an interest group perspective and a multi-level governance perspective. The described and analyzed policy processes are Kömiljarden, an effectivity effort in Swedish public health care system, and the introduction of the teacher license system in Swedish schools. The empirical material used in this thesis consists of official publications published by public authorities, the parliament and the government as well as interviews with officials representing public authorities, the government and SALAR. The results presented in this thesis show that SALAR in line with previous research on local government associations in other countries, has a role as an intermediator with a privileged access to central government and central decision-making. It is a partner that central government negotiates with and which has the task of informing about the local and regional circumstances. Its influence can also be analyzed in connection to these negotiations. SALAR is in many ways stuck in the structure of decision-making, which is operated by central government while still being in competition with interest groups, such as the teacher unions.

This thesis analyzes the current status of the acquisition of human resources in the field of independent financial advice company Fincentrum, a. s. There are also analyzed the possibility of using Web 2.0 services supporting this activity on the basis of this analyses are given recommendations leading to more effective recruitment. This thesis focuses on the activities of managers. Describes the process of recruiting new employees from the first contact with candidates and period of the worker's adaptation.

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have grown in popularity beyond the original video game enthusiast audience. They have been embraced by the high-performance computing community due to their high computational throughput, low cost, low energy demands, wide availability, and ability to dramatically improve application performance. In addition, as hybrid computing continues into mainstream applications, the use of GPUs will continue to grow. However, due to architectural difference between the CPU and GPU, adapting CPU-based scientific computing applications to fully exploit the potential speedup that GPUs offer is a non-trivial task. Algorithms must be designed with the architecture benefits and limitations in mind in order to unlock the full performance gains afforded by the use GPU. In this work, we develop fast GPU methods to improve the performance of two important components in computational lung modeling - image registration and particle tracking. We first propose a novel method for multi-level mass-preserving deformable image registration. The strength of this method is that it allows for flexibility of choice for the similarity criteria to be used by the registration method, making possible the implementation of simple and complex similarity measures on the GPU with excellent performance results. The method is tested using three similarity criteria for registering two CT lung datasets - the commonly used sum of squared intensity differences (SSD), the sum of squared tissue value differences (SSTVD), and a symmetric version of SSTVD currently being developed by our research group. The GPU method is validated against a previously validated single-threaded CPU counterpart using six healthy human subjects, and demonstrated strong agreement of results. Separately, three GPU methods were developed for tracking particle trajectories and deposition efficiencies in the human airway tree, including a multiple-GPU method. Though parallelization was straightforward, the complex geometry of the lungs and use of an unstructured mesh provided challenges that were addressed by the GPU methods. The results of the GPU methods were tested for various numbers of particles and compared to a previously validated single-threaded CPU version and demonstrated dramatic speedup over the single-threaded CPU version and 12-threaded CPU versions.

As the international community takes increasing action to mitigate the effects of climate change, increased focus has been placed on the topic of energy transitions in developing countries. This paper uses the multi-level perspective (MLP) framework to analyze the ongoing energy transition in Mongolia, specifically the integration of large-scale wind and solar energy systems. Attention is paid to the presence of transnational linkages and intermediaries that have substantially contributed to Mongolia’s success in diffusing renewable energy technology, as well as challenges Mongolia has faced as a result of limited technological and institutional capacity. The paper concludes that Mongolia’s transition shares many similarities with other developing countries’ transitions, in that transition dynamics are highly influenced by exogenous actors and interests, rather than traditional factors as described by the MLP.