<p>Syftet med vårt examensarbete är att skapa ett informationsmaterial för nyinflyttade i Västerås kommun som så många som möjligt ska kunna ta del av. Vårt mål är att både lässvaga och lässtarka människor ska känna sig lika betydelsefulla när de läser informationsmaterialet. Vår forskningsfråga är därför: Går det att kombinera principerna för informationsdesign och principerna för lättläst för att nå både en lässvag och en lässtark grupp så att båda känner sig lika viktiga och tar till sig budskapet? Och om det går, hur kan man då gå tillväga?</p><p>Vår uppdragsgivare är Centrum för lättläst som arbetar med att göra information tillgänglig för dem som har svårt att läsa. De behöver ett utprovat referensmaterial av ett lättillgängligt informationsmaterial som de kan visa upp för olika kommuner i sitt arbete mot ett tillgängligt samhälle.</p><p>För att besvara vår forskningsfråga använder vi oss av litteraturstudier, samt kvalitativa och kvantitativa studier i form av utprovningar. Resultaten från utprovningarna är avgörande för hur informationsmaterialet bearbetas och färdigställs.</p><p>Vår slutsats för examensarbetet är att principerna för informationsdesign och principerna för lättläst är en bra kombination för att göra ett informationsmaterial tillgängligt. För att veta hur tillgängligt ett material är krävs utprovningar på olika målgrupper. Varje målgrupp har sina egna behov och det är omöjligt att tillfredställa <em>alla</em> med ett och samma informationsmaterial. Våra utprovningar visar däremot att det går att nå flera <em>olika</em> målgrupper med ett och samma informationsmaterial.</p>

In recent years, a growing number of human pharmaceuticals have been detected in the aquatic environment, generally at low concentrations (sub-ng/L to low μg/L). These compounds are characterised by highly specific mechanisms of action, high potency and prolonged activity in order to minimise dosing requirements and potential toxicity in patients. Among the various classes of pharmaceuticals, steroids and anti-steroids are widely used, as shown by the analysis of their clinical use carried out at the beginning of this Ph.D. project. Although the amounts used are much lower than the amounts of some other pharmaceuticals (e.g. analgesics), their ability to affect important physiological processes in fish (e.g. reproduction) at very low concentrations (ng/L) suggest that this class of compounds should represent a high priority for ecotoxicological research. In particular, this Ph.D. project addressed the question of whether or not dutasteride, a human pharmaceutical mainly used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia, may cause adverse effects in the teleost fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) by inhibiting the activity of both isoforms of 5α-reductase (5αR), the enzyme which convert testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). The theoretical framework used to guide the design of the experimental studies was based on the combination of several conceptual approaches, including the study of the evolutionary degree of conservation and functionality of the drug target in non-target species, and the cross-species extrapolation of pharmacological and toxicological information generated during pre-clinical and clinical studies in mammals during drug development. The results obtained during the first phase of this Ph.D. project strongly suggested that DHT has a physiological role in the fathead minnow. In fact, 5αRs are evolutionary conserved in this species, 5αRs genes are expressed in tissues such as the testis, and DHT circulates in fathead minnow plasma at concentrations similar to those detected in humans. These findings represented the rationale for testing the effects of dutasteride in the fathead minnow. Dutasteride caused significant adverse effects in all the in vivo studies performed in order to evaluate its potential toxicity on fish, including early life stage and short term reproduction studies, and all the tested life stages were sensitive to the inhibition of 5αRs activity; however, none of the observed adverse effects occurred at concentrations of exposure lower than 32 μg/L (measured concentration). The results also showed that female fish are highly sensitive to disruption of the androgenic pathways, highlighting their utility for the evaluation of potential adverse effects caused by anti-androgens on fish. In conclusion, the results presented in this Thesis suggest that, at present, the potential presence of dutasteride in the environment does not represent a risk to wild fish populations, due to the high concentrations required to elict significant adverse effect (LOEC = 32 μg/L) and the low volume of drug prescribed every year (5.07 kg in UK in 2006). However, the high bioaccumulation factor of dutasteride suggest that further studies should be conducted to elucidate the role played by the bioaccumulation process in the toxicity responses observed in fish.

The toxicological screening of the numerous chemicals that we are exposed to requires significant cost and the use of animals. Accordingly, more efficient methods for the evaluation of toxicity are required to reduce cost and the number of animals used. Computational strategies have the potential to reduce both the cost and the use of animal testing in toxicity screening. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to develop computational models for the prediction of toxicological endpoints that can serve as an alternative to animal testing. In Paper I, an attempt was made to construct a global quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR)model for the acute toxicity endpoint (LD50 values) using the Munro database that represents a broad chemical landscape. Such a model could be used for acute toxicity screening of chemicals of diverse structures. Paper II focuses on the use of acute toxicity data to support the prediction of chronic toxicity. The results of this study suggest that for related chemicals having acute toxicities within a similar range, their lowest observed effect levels (LOELs) can be used in read-across strategies to fill gaps in chronic toxicity data. In Paper III a k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) classification model was developed to predict human ether-a-go-go related gene (hERG)-derived toxicity. The results suggest that the model has potential for use in identifying compounds with hERG-liabilities, e.g. in drug development.

This thesis investigates temporal characteristics of monosyllabic words (je, se, že) in semi-spontaneous dialogues and read speech. Our material consisted of two sets of recordings from six speakers (three men and three women). The speakers read a text first, and this reading was followed by a recording of a spontaneous dialogue. We investigated differences of temporal characteristics of monosyllabic words between the two types of speech. In addition, we also examined how these characteristics are affected by different variables, which included: position in a stress group, presence of stress, presence of pause and speaker's personality. It was found that the type of speech had a significant influence on duration ratio of sounds in examined words je, že. Word se remained unaffected by the type of speech and generally appeared as a very stable element. The type of speech also influenced variability in duration - this variability proved to be higher in spontaneous speech. The type of speech did not affect average duration of words je, se, že. Position in the stress group also proved to have a significant effect on duration of words. This effect was mainly caused by words which created isolated stress groups - words in such position had longer duration than words in other positions. For words je, se...

Syftet med detta arbete är att få reda på vad som kan skapa motivation att läsa skönlitteratur i skolan för elever som saknar motivation att läsa. Det handlar om elever som inte har problem med sin läsförmåga utan att de inte har någon lust att läsa. Jag vill även ta reda på om de förstår syftet med att läsa skönlitteratur i skolan. Jag tar upp vad tidigare forskning säger om läsmotivation och hur vi påverkas och utvecklas genom att läsa skönlitteratur i skolan och i hemmet under barndomen. För att få en bättre bild av läsundvikarnas attityd till läsning har jag intervjuat fem elever som saknar motivation att läsa. Jag har i min studie kommit fram till att tiden och upplägget för undervisningen är av stor vikt när det gäller litteraturläsning. Läsning måste ha ett syfte som är förståeligt för eleverna. Lärare måste därför ge alla elever mer tid att läsa och mer tid för att hjälpa dem att hitta rätt böcker för att de ska känna lusten och nöjet att läsa. / The purpose with this work is to find out what can create motivation to read fiction in school for students without motivation to read. It’s about students who don’t have problems with their reading skills, but they don’t have the pleasure to read. I also want to find out if they understand the purpose of reading fiction in school. I study what previous research says about reading motivation and how we are influenced and developed by reading in school and at home during childhood. To get a better picture of what attitude the students that I call read avoiders have towards reading, I have interviewed five students who have no motivation to read. In my study, I have come to the conclusion that the time and structure of teaching is of great importance in reading literature. Reading must have a purpose that is understandable to the students. Teachers must therefore provide all students with more time to read and more time to help them to find the right books to make them feel the desire and the pleasure of reading.

Det övergripande syftet med denna studie var att få fram förskollärares syn på högläsning i förskolan och hur förskollärare använder både spontan och planerad högläsning. Studien gjordes genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer och deltagarna som intervjuades var fyra förskollärare som jobbade inom samma kommun. Resultatet visade att förskollärare som deltog i studien tyckte att högläsning är viktigt för språkutveckling liksom bokvalet. Resultatet visade även att användningen av planerad högläsning kunde kopplas till pågående projekt och läsvilan. Den spontana högläsningen användes mest som ett tillfälle att låta barnens inflytande gå igenom och även som ett tillfälle att läsa böcker på ett mer ingående sätt. Avslutningsvis visar studien att pedagoger kan se på högläsning som en viktig del i förskolans verksamhet och inte bara som en rutin. / The overall aim of this study was to obtain pre-school teachers' views on read-aloud in preschool and the preschool teachers use of both spontaneous and planned read-aloud situations. The study was done by qualitative semi-structured interviews and the participants interviewed were four preschool teachers who worked within the same city. The results showed that preschool teachers' views on reading aloud was that they thought reading aloud was important for language development and how they read a book and book choice was important. The results also showed that the use of planned reading aloud could be linked to ongoing projects and reading relaxation. The spontaneous reading aloud was mostly used as an opportunity to let the children´s will go through, but also as an opportunity to read books in a more detailed way. Finally, the study shows how teachers can see read-aloud as part of the preschool that is not just a routine, but an important part of the pre-school that is important for children’s development.

The purpose of this study is to determine which effect preschool teachers believe that read aloud has on children’s literacy development. To gain knowledge about this I have interviewed and observed currently working preschool teachers at two preschools in Västra Götalands län. As guidance, I have used a designed interview guide which encouraged the preschool teachers to openminded answers. In relation to those I’ve also carried out unstructured observations during read aloud occasions. The material was analysed out of the sociocultural perspective. The outcome of this has concluded that preschool teachers claims that read aloud should be given more space in preschools as it is developing the language but also, that the interest itself is a key to development. The result shows at the same time that read aloud is bound socially and that children needs to be challenged in their reading to be able to move forward. But it also shows that the connection between read aloud and children’s reading-, language- and writing development is hard for preschool teachers to connect.

Aquatic ecotoxicology is the study of toxic chemicals and its effects on aquatic biological systems with the aim of minimising threats to human health and ensure self-sustained ecosystems. Freshwater bivalves are excellent sentinels for use in ecotoxilogical research due to their filter feeding properties, stationary lifestyle and inability to regulate body temperature. This project aimed to assess the feasibility and use of nanopore sequencing, a real-time single-molecule sequencing technology in comparative expression analysis by sequencing transcriptomic RNA from the freshwater mussel Anodonta anatina following exposure to copper. RNAs were extracted from 80 mg hepatopancreas tissue, followed by poly(A) RNA selection. Furthermore, the poly(A) RNA was used to construct a nanopore sequencing library. Sequencing a total amount of 560 ng poly(A) RNA over the course of two separate runs generated 239,448 reads, in which 75% of the reads were obtained during the first run (control) and 25% of the reads were obtained during the second run (case). The median read lengths ranged between 534-650 nucleotides, with a base call accuracy &lt;90%. Due to the big differences in sequence data output between the two sequencing runs, the data was ineligible for comparative analysis. The findings conclude that nanopore sequencing is capable of generating longer read lengths when compared to other sequencing platforms. However, the technology is error-prone in terms of accurate base call identifications and relies on other platforms for error corrections. Future advances include de novo transcriptome assembly for efficient use of Anodonta anatina as a bioindicator in aquatic ecotoxicology.

Syftet med denna studie är att jämföra hur lärare i årskurs F–3 respektive årskurs 4–6 använder högläsning i sin undervisning. Studiens frågeställningar är: vad syftet med högläsning är i årskurs F–3 jämfört med årskurs 4–6, hur lärare i årskurs F–3 respektive årskurs 4–6 använder högläsning i sin undervisning samt om aktiviteter används i samband med högläsningen. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt är det sociokulturella perspektivet. För att få syn på deltagarnas perspektiv har halvstrukturerade intervjuer använts som datainsamlingsmetod. Det är sex verksamma lärare som intervjuats i studien. Studiens resultat visar att syftet med högläsningen är att utveckla elevers språkförståelse samt upptäcka böckernas värld. Det ges även mer utrymme åt högläsning i årskurs F–3 än årskurs 4–6. Den vanligaste aktiviteten är att samtala om och diskutera det lästa. / The purpose of this study is to compare how teachers in grades F-3 and 4–6 use reading aloud in their teaching. The following research questions have been considered: what is the purpose of reading aloud in grades F-3 compared to grades 4–6 and how teachers in grades F-3 and 4–6 respectively use reading aloud in their teaching. The study will also inquire into activities used with reading aloud. The theoretical starting point of this study is the socio-cultural perspective. In order to gain an overview of the participants' perspectives, semi-structured interviews have been used as a data collection method. There are six teachers interviewed in this study. The results of the study show that the purpose of reading aloud is to develop the pupils' language comprehension and to discover the world of books. Reading aloud is also given more space in grade F – 3 than grade 4–6. Speaking about and discussing the reading is a common activity.

Many texts we encounter in our everyday lives are lexically and syntactically very complex. This makes them difficult to understand for people with intellectual or reading impairments, and difficult for various natural language processing systems to process. This motivated the need for text simplification (TS) which transforms texts into their simpler variants. Given that this is still a relatively new research area, many challenges are still remaining. The focus of this thesis is on better understanding the current problems in automatic text simplification (ATS) and proposing new data-driven approaches to solving them. We propose methods for learning sentence splitting and deletion decisions, built upon parallel corpora of original and manually simplified Spanish texts, which outperform the existing similar systems. Our experiments in adaptation of those methods to different text genres and target populations report promising results, thus offering one possible solution for dealing with the scarcity of parallel corpora for text simplification aimed at specific target populations, which is currently one of the main issues in ATS. The results of our extensive analysis of the phrase-based statistical machine translation (PB-SMT) approach to ATS reject the widespread assumption that the success of that approach largely depends on the size of the training and development datasets. They indicate more influential factors for the success of the PB-SMT approach to ATS, and reveal some important differences between cross-lingual MT and the monolingual v MT used in ATS. Our event-based system for simplifying news stories in English (EventSimplify) overcomes some of the main problems in ATS. It does not require a large number of handcrafted simplification rules nor parallel data, and it performs significant content reduction. The automatic and human evaluations conducted show that it produces grammatical text and increases readability, preserving and simplifying relevant content and reducing irrelevant content. Finally, this thesis addresses another important issue in TS which is how to automatically evaluate the performance of TS systems given that access to the target users might be difficult. Our experiments indicate that existing readability metrics can successfully be used for this task when enriched with human evaluation of grammaticality and preservation of meaning.