Bakgrund Uppskattningsvis lever cirka 20 procent av svenska befolkningen med långvarig smärta vilket kostar samhället stora summor varje år och orsakar lidande för den som är drabbad och dennes anhöriga. Enligt Association for the Study of Pain (2021) definieras smärta som en associering till faktisk eller potentiell vävnadsskada. Denna litteraturöversikt är angelägen för att ge en ökad förståelse för personer som lider av långvarig smärta och de copingstrategier som de använder för att hantera sin smärta. Syfte Att beskriva copingstrategier hos personer i arbetsför ålder som lider av långvarig smärta. Metod En strukturerad litteraturöversikt med inslag av den metodologi som används vid systematiska översikter. Sökningarna gjordes mellan 2017 och 2022 genom databaserna CINAHL och PubMed. Därefter undersöktes utvalda artiklar genom en integrerad analys. Resultat Resultatet visade att personer med långvarig smärta ofta drog sig undan och isolerade sig i rädsla för att vara andra till last, trots att forskning visat på att sociala relationer var den viktigaste faktorn för att hantera smärtan. Brist på effektiva copingstrategier ökade katastrofiering och rädslor samt minskade fysisk aktivitet. Detta ledde till ökad smärta och trötthet vilket bidrog till större funktionsnedsättning, ångest och maktlöshet. Läkemedel var den vanligaste formen av smärtbehandling trots att forskning visat att kognitiv beteendeterapi har bättre effekt för att öka patienters välmående vid långvarig smärta. Slutsats Resultatet i denna litteraturöversikt visade att personer med långvarig smärta använder sig av en rad olika copingstrategier för att hantera sin smärta. / Background It is estimated that around 20 percent of the Swedish population lives with chronic pain, which costs society large sums every year and causes suffering to the person affected and their relatives. According to the Association for the Study of Pain (2021), pain is defined as an association with actual or potential tissue damage. This literature review emphasizes the importance of an increased understanding of people suffering from chronic pain and the coping strategies they use to manage their pain. Aim To describe coping strategies by people 18 to 65 years old who suffer from chronic pain. Method A structured literature review with elements of the methodology used in systematic reviews. The searches were made between 2017 and 2022 through the CINAHL and PubMed databases. Selected articles were examined through an integrated analysis. Results The results showed that people with chronic pain often withdrew and isolated themselves in fear of being a burden to others, despite research showing that social relationships were the most important factor in managing the pain. Lack of effective coping strategies increased catastrophizing and fears and reduced physical activity. This led to increased pain and fatigue which contributed to greater functional impairment, anxiety and powerlessness. Medicines were the most common form of pain treatment despite research showing that cognitive behavioral therapy is more effective in increasing patients' wellbeing concerning chronic pain. Conclusions The results of this literature review showed that people with chronic pain use a range of different coping strategies to manage their pain.

The genetic variation among extant life forms reflects the outcomes of evolution. The fodder of evolution – germline mutations – is shaped by the interplay among evolutionary forces – notably natural selection and random genetic drift. In turn, these forces leave footprints recorded in the genetic variation of extant life forms. Characterizing these footprints to understand how evolution works is at the heart of population genetics. To this end, massive datasets of genetic variation have opened new avenues of research, around how mutation rates evolve for instance, and reinvigorated long standing questions in population genetics, notably about the genetic basis of adaptation. In turn, theoretical models of evolution inform what kind of footprints we expect evolution to leave behind in such data. Two theoretical models that investigate open questions in population genetics are described in this thesis. In Chapter 1, I consider the evolution of germline mutation rates, particularly on short evolutionary timescales, and ask if recently observed variation in mutation rates among human lineages could be explained by evolution at genetic modifiers of mutation rates. Genetic modifiers of mutation rates are expected to evolve under purifying selection: mutations at modifiers that increase mutation rates (“mutator alleles”) should be selected against, because they increase the burden of deleterious mutations in individuals who carry them. The frequencies of mutator alleles are also affected by mutation, genetic drift, and demographic processes. We model the evolution of mutator alleles under the interplay of these forces and characterize the dynamics at mutation rate modifiers as a function of the efficacy of selection acting on them. We find that modifiers under intermediate selection have the greatest contribution to variation in mutation rates between distantly related populations, but only variation at strongly selected modifiers turns over fast enough to explain variation in mutation rates among human lineages. We also predict that strongly selected modifiers could be potentially identified in the contemporary datasets of human pedigrees used to study germline mutations. In Chapter 2, I consider a central and enduring question in evolutionary biology: whether adaptation typically arises from few large effect changes or from many small effect changes. Both sides are supported by ample evidence. Yet it is unclear how to translate this evidence into general answers about the genetic basis of adaptation, in part because different methodologies have different limitations and ask different questions. Theory may offer a way out of this quagmire or at least a start. To this end, we reframe the question in terms of traits and ask: how does the genetic basis of adaptation depend on the ecological and genetic attributes of a trait? To start answering this question, I model adaptation in a simple yet highly relevant setting. I consider a trait under stabilizing selection and assume the distribution of trait values in the population is initially at mutation-selection-drift-balance. I then characterize the adaptive response that is elicited by a sudden change in the environment. I find that the adaptive response, and notably the probability that adaptation arises from the fixation of large effect alleles, depends on the size of the environmental change and the genetic architecture of the trait. These attributes are measurable and can be directly related to the disparate evidence that we have about the genetic basis of adaptation. Thus, this kind of modeling may help translate such evidence into general conclusions about how traits evolve. My thesis work was interrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, and in response to this pandemic, governments around the world implemented shelter-in-place protocols. However, essential workers were exempt from these protocols, potentially decreasing their efficacy. In Chapter 3, we describe our epidemiological project, aimed at understanding the impact of essential workers on epidemic control. To this end, we model three different archetypes of essential workers under a reasonably realistic SEIR model of the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that the different social interactions that essential workers maintain qualitatively changes their personal risk of infection and the spread of the overall epidemic. These results highlight the utility of not considering essential workers as a monolithic group but instead distinguishing between the impact of different types of essential workers on epidemic control.

Yes / In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing has become an essential element of our daily lives. As a result, the development of technological solutions for the design and re-design of physical spaces with the necessary physical distancing measures is an important problem that must be addressed. In this paper, we show how automatic design optimisation can be used to simulate the layout of physical spaces subject to a given social distancing requirement. We use a well known mathematical technique based on the circle packing to address this challenge. Thus, given the dimensions and the necessary constraints on the physical space, we formulate the design as a solution to a constrained nonlinear optimisation problem. We then solve the optimisation problem to arrive at a number of feasible design solutions from which the user can pick the most desirable option. By way of examples, in this paper, we show how the proposed model can be practically applied. / University of Bradford’s COVID-19 Response Fund, the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (Computer Science National Program) under grant #TIN2017-89275-R of the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion and European Funds (AEI/FEDER, UE)

To date, little research has documented the prevalence of anti-gay behaviours on Canadian university campuses or directly explored heterosexual mens and womens self-reported reasons for holding negative attitudes toward gay men and engaging in anti-gay behaviours. Consequently, the purpose of the current study was to: (1) assess the prevalence of anti-gay attitudes and behaviours on a Canadian university campus using the Attitudes Toward Gay Men Scale (ATG) and the Self-Report Behaviour Scale Revised (SBS-R); (2) describe heterosexual mens and womens lived experiences as perpetrators of homonegativity; and (3) explore how heterosexuals find meaning in their homonegativity within personal and social contexts. A mixed-methods approach was used wherein a quantitative questionnaire was administered to 286 university students in the first phase of the study. The majority of the participants scored below the midpoint of the ATG and they most often reported engaging in subtle behaviours directed toward gay men. In the second, qualitative phase of the study, open-ended interviews were conducted with eight individuals (four men and four women) who held negative attitudes toward gay men and had engaged in anti-gay behaviours. The interviews were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The participants lived experiences of homonegativity were primarily characterized by their feelings of discomfort upon observing gay men display affection and their perceptions that gay men are feminine. For the most part, participants used their religious beliefs, negative affective reactions toward homosexuality, and their beliefs that homosexuality is wrong and unnatural to understand their homonegativity. Further, the participants indicated that they had only engaged in subtle anti-gay behaviours, such as joke-telling, social distancing, or avoidance. Many of the participants were concerned about being perceived as prejudiced and, consequently, monitored the behaviours they directed toward gay men. Limitations of the study and directions for future research concerning anti-gay behaviours are also presented.

To date, little research has documented the prevalence of anti-gay behaviours on Canadian university campuses or directly explored heterosexual mens and womens self-reported reasons for holding negative attitudes toward gay men and engaging in anti-gay behaviours. Consequently, the purpose of the current study was to: (1) assess the prevalence of anti-gay attitudes and behaviours on a Canadian university campus using the Attitudes Toward Gay Men Scale (ATG) and the Self-Report Behaviour Scale Revised (SBS-R); (2) describe heterosexual mens and womens lived experiences as perpetrators of homonegativity; and (3) explore how heterosexuals find meaning in their homonegativity within personal and social contexts. A mixed-methods approach was used wherein a quantitative questionnaire was administered to 286 university students in the first phase of the study. The majority of the participants scored below the midpoint of the ATG and they most often reported engaging in subtle behaviours directed toward gay men. In the second, qualitative phase of the study, open-ended interviews were conducted with eight individuals (four men and four women) who held negative attitudes toward gay men and had engaged in anti-gay behaviours. The interviews were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The participants lived experiences of homonegativity were primarily characterized by their feelings of discomfort upon observing gay men display affection and their perceptions that gay men are feminine. For the most part, participants used their religious beliefs, negative affective reactions toward homosexuality, and their beliefs that homosexuality is wrong and unnatural to understand their homonegativity. Further, the participants indicated that they had only engaged in subtle anti-gay behaviours, such as joke-telling, social distancing, or avoidance. Many of the participants were concerned about being perceived as prejudiced and, consequently, monitored the behaviours they directed toward gay men. Limitations of the study and directions for future research concerning anti-gay behaviours are also presented.

In 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic struck the world, creating a need for social distancing to stop the spreading of the virus. This report will discuss and cover how a simulation was implemented in the game engine Unity that simulates human movement-patterns, which in turn will help with spreading people out in public areas. To be able to do this accurately, research was made about which behaviours can be of importance to get as realistic a representation of human movements as possible. The performed research showed that some contributing factors to get a realistic result includes how many destinations (e.g. in a Supermarket, a destination would be a shelf with wares) a human usually visits during a shopping trip to a supermarket. This is something that was quickly realized and could be used and implemented in the simulation, as it directly affects how long each human stays in the store, which in the long run makes crowds, and places where they form, more realistic. When the simulation was finished, a Google Forms was created, which were spread in numerous different groups on Facebook and Reddit, in which a total of 60 participants were registered. This quantitative research gave a good understanding of how the project had turned out and what could be improved. The results were very promising, and more or less what was hoped for. There is still room for further improvements, which are all mentioned in the chapter “Further Research” of this report. One example that is mentioned here is whether or not collisions between our simulated humans matter enough to make a difference to the end result. It is argued that it does not, but this is something one should perform further studies on.

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In the era of a pandemic, public spaces have been reshaped for better, but also for worse. Humans are social beings. We need interaction with others to thrive, but doing this over a screen over a long period of time has proven we must adapt in new ways. “As society begins to build the “new normal” of emergence from the pandemic, efforts to rebuild and strengthen trust and solidarity are of as much importance as the ongoing distribution of vaccines and vigilance against coronavirus variants,” (The EditorsFebruary, 2022, Unpaginated). The transitional restart for issues relating to public spaces in the post pandemic period has highlighted the challenge of making public spaces not only safe to gather, but also vibrant. There is much room for society to start exploring new systems to create safe spaces for the public that veer away from the stale solutions we have implemented. What would happen if we shy away from digital as a social distancing method and instead explore craft or nature as a way of rethinking the new normal?  The EditorsFebruary, et al. “The Key to a Post-Pandemic 'New Normal'? Solidarity.”America Magazine, 17 Feb. 2022, https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2022/02/17/covid- omicron-normal-masks-242404.

[pt] A presente dissertação de mestrado discute aspectos relacionados à importância da prática de atividades físicas para a saúde mental da população, em especial durante a Pandemia da COVID-19. Para tanto, foram realizados três estudos: um de revisão sistemática, um teórico e um empírico. O primeiro estudo, de revisão sistemática, buscou investigar a relação existente entre a prática de atividades físicas e a saúde mental da população adulta nos mais diversos contextos, através da busca nas bases de dados PsycINFO, LILACS, SciELO e PePSIC, onde foram selecionados, por fim, 44 artigos. Os dados sugerem uma relação de associação entre a prática de atividades físicas e a saúde mental em adultos, com o tipo e a força de associação variando nas diferentes amostras. O segundo estudo apresenta uma revisão não sistemática da literatura acerca dos benefícios da prática de atividades físicas para a saúde física e mental durante a Pandemia. Com o surto da COVID-19, medidas como o isolamento social tem sido adotadas pelo mundo com o intuito de conter a propagação do vírus e, devido a isso, intervenções têm sido realizadas para auxiliar, de forma segura e eficaz, as questões relacionadas à saúde física e mental da população. Considerando que o sedentarismo/inatividade física tem aumentado ainda mais durante a pandemia, a atividade física tem sido considerada uma boa estratégia e tem sido recomendada por entidades de saúde, que apresentam o tempo e a intensidade ideal de prática para cada faixa etária, além de apresentarem diversas opções de exercícios que podem ser feitos nesse período. O terceiro estudo, empírico, buscou avaliar os indicadores de saúde mental em praticantes e não praticantes de atividades físicas durante o isolamento social da COVID-19 em uma amostra de 701 participantes, sendo 71,5 por cento mulheres (n=501), 28,4 por cento homens (n=199) e 0,1 por cento que preferiu não informar o sexo biológico (n=1) (M= 31,08; (DP= 11,28). Os resultados indicaram diferenças significativas entre os grupos para as variáveis, ou seja, foram encontrados menores níveis de ansiedade, depressão e estresse e maiores níveis de positividade e qualidade de vida nos participantes que praticavam atividades físicas no período de isolamento social da COVID-19. Esses dados contribuem para uma compreensão mais ampla da relação entre a prática de atividades física e saúde mental, de forma geral. / [en] The first study, with a systematic review, sought to investigate the relationship between the practice of physical activities and the mental health of the adult population in the most diverse contexts, by searching the PsycINFO, LILACS, SciELO and PePSIC databases, where they were selected, finally, 44 articles. The data suggest an association relationship between physical activity and mental health in adults, with the type and strength of association varying in the different samples. The second study presents a non-systematic review of the literature on the benefits of physical activity for physical and mental health during Pandemic. With the outbreak of COVID-19, measures such as social isolation have been adopted by the world in order to contain the spread of the virus and, due to this, interventions have been carried out to help, in a safe and effective way, issues related to physical and mental health of the population. Considering that physical inactivity / inactivity has increased even more during the pandemic, physical activity has been considered a good strategy and has been recommended by health entities, which present the ideal time and intensity of practice for each age group, in addition to present several exercise options that can be done during this period. The third, empirical study sought to assess mental health indicators in practitioners and non-practitioners of physical activities during the social isolation of COVID-19 in a sample of 701 participants, of which 71.5 percent were women (n = 501), 28, 4 percent men (n = 199) and 0.1 percent who preferred not to inform biological sex (n = 1) (M = 31.08; (SD = 11.28). The results indicated significant differences between groups for women that is, lower levels of anxiety, depression and stress and higher levels of positivity and quality of life were found in participants who practiced physical activities during the social isolation period of COVID-19. These data contribute to a broader understanding of the relationship between the practice of physical activities and mental health, in general.

Syfte: Att beskriva aktivitetsmönster och upplevelse av aktivitetsbalans hos individer över 70 år efter införandet av Folkhälsomyndighetens rekommendationer om begränsad social kontakt i samband med covid-19-pandemin. Metod: Genom en kvalitativ induktiv ansats med ett strategiskt urval genomfördes 17 semistrukturerade intervjuer. Data analyserades genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys för att upptäcka mönster och upplevelser av tillvaron i deltagarnas berättelser. Resultat: Deltagarna beskrev att det funnits både svårigheter och möjligheter för hur de kunde adaptera och hitta nya sätt att utföra aktiviteter på. Med färre aktiviteter och mer tid att förfoga över blev deltagarna angelägna om att komma till rätta och utföra aktiviteter som upplevdes meningsfulla för att finna balans i vardagen. Aktivitetsmönster tog ny form då aktiviteter förändrades och/eller försvann varpå deltagarna anpassade sig efter de nya förutsättningarna, och aktiviteterna med dem. Resultatet lyfte hur aktivitetsbalansen påverkades då aktiviteter förändrades eller försvann, att deltagarna utmanades att hitta strategier för att finna meningsfulla aktiviteter i den nya vardagen. Slutsats: Studien visade att engagemang i aktivitet hörde samman med välmående och vikten av tillgänglighet. Ökad kunskap behövs för att bidra med insikt i vad som bibehåller balans, hur tillgängligheten kan öka och vilket stöd arbetsterapeuter och samhället kan ge. / Aim: To describe patterns of daily occupations and experience of occupational balance in individuals over 70 years of age after the introduction of the Public Health Agency of Sweden's recommendations on limited social contact in connection with the covid-19-pandemic. Method: Through a qualitative inductive approach with a strategically planned selection, 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data was analyzed through a qualitative content analysis to discover patterns and experiences of existence in the participants stories. Results: Participants described that there have been both difficulties and opportunities for how they could adapt and find new ways to perform activities. With fewer activities and more time at their disposal, the participants became eager to come to terms with and perform activities that felt meaningful in order to find balance in everyday life. Patterns of daily occupations have taken on new forms as activities have changed and/or disappeared, after which the participants adapted to the new conditions and the activities with them. The results highlight how the occupational balance has been affected when activities have changed or disappeared, that participants have been challenged to find strategies to find meaningful occupation in the new everyday life. Conclusion:The study showed that participation in occupation is related to well-being and the importance of accessibility. Increased knowledge can provide insight into what maintains balance, how accessibility can increase and what support occupational therapists and society can provide.