Zero-dimensional graphene (carbon) quantum dots have been drawing attention in bio-related applications since their discovery, especially for their optical properties, chemical stability, and easily modifiable surface.  This thesis focuses on the green synthesis of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (GQDs) for dual-mode bioimaging with X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and optical fluorescence. Both conventional and microwave- (MW-)assisted solvothermal methods were followed to investigate the precursors’ effect on the synthesized GQDs. The MW-assisted method permitted the synthesis of uniform GQDs with an excitation-independent behavior, due to highly controllable reaction conditions. It was demonstrated that the molecular structure of the precursors influenced the optical fluorescence properties of the GQDs. Thus, both blue- (BQDs) and red-emitting (RQDs) GQDs were obtained by selecting specific precursors, leading to emission maxima at 438 and 605 nm under the excitation wavelengths of 390 and 585 nm, respectively.  Amine-functionalized Rh nanoparticles (NPs) were chosen as the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) active core, synthesized via MW-assisted hydrothermal method with a custom designed sugar ligand as the reducing agent. These NPs were conjugated with BQDs using EDC-NHS treatment. The hybrid Rh-GQDs NPs exhibited green emission (520 nm) under 490 nm excitation and led to a reduced cytotoxicity with respect to bare Rh NPs, highlighting the passivation role of the GQDs via the real-time cell analysis (RTCA) assay. The hybrid complex constituted a multimodal bioimaging contrastagent, tested with confocal microscopy (in vitro) and XRF phantom experiments. / Sedan deras upptäckt har nolldimensionella kvantprickar av grafen (kol) uppmärksammats inom biorelaterade applikationer, särskilt för deras optiska egenskaper, kemiska stabilitet och enkelt modifierbara yta. Denna avhandling fokuserar på en grön syntesmetod av kvävedopade grafen-kvantprickar för bimodal bioavbildning med röntgenfluorescens och optisk fluorescens. Både konventionella och mikrovågs-assisterade solvotermiska syntesmetoder användes för att undersöka metodernas effekt på de syntetiserade kvantprickarna. Den mikrovågs-assisterade metoden möjliggjorde syntes av uniforma kvantprickar med exciteringsoberoende egenskaper på grund av mycket kontrollerbara reaktionsförhållanden. Det demonstrerades att den molekylära strukturen hos prekursorerna påverkade de optiska fluorescensegenskaperna hos grafen-kvantprickarna. Genom att välja specifika prekursorer erhölls kvantprickar som emitterar i både blått och rött ljus, motsvarande emissionsmaxima vid 438 respektive 605 nm under excitering vid 390 respektive 585 nm. Amin-funktionaliserade Rh-nanopartiklar valdes som en aktiv kärna för röntgenfluorescens, syntetiserad genom en mikrovågs-assisterad hydrotermisk metod med en specialdesignad sockerligand som reduktionsmedel. Dessa nanopartiklar konjugerades med blåemitterande kvantprickar genom EDC-NHS-behandling. De hybrida nanopartiklarna uppvisade grön emission (520 nm) under 490 nm excitation och ledde till en minskad cytotoxicitet uppmätt genom cellanalys i realtid (RTCA) jämfört med endast Rh-nanopartiklar, vilket framhävde passiveringsrollen som kvantprickarna spelar. Hybridkomplexet utgjorde ett multimodalt kontrastmedel för bioavbildning, vilket demonstrerades med konfokalmikroskopi (in vitro) och fantomexperiment med röntgenfluorescens.

Companies have an important role to play in sustainability initiatives as they have great power to drive development. Working with sustainability issues can be seen as crucial to their survival, as various stakeholders today place high demands on companies to take responsibility in this area. This study aims to critically examine The Body Shop’s sustainability communication in order to gain a deeper understanding of how the company constructs a sustainable brand. The study is based on the following questions: (1) How does The Body Shop communicate sustainability? (2) Which discourses are most prominent in The Body Shop’s communication? (3) What does The Body Shop convey through its sustainability communication? The material consists of The Body Shop’s sustainability report, as it is an important part of a company’s sustainability communication. The study’s theoretical framework is based on theories of critical discourse theory, consumer society, brand identity and brand activism. Furthermore, the methodology of the study is multimodal critical discourse analysis, where we have used different analysis tools to study both visual and textual elements of the company’s sustainability report. To see how The Body Shop relates to the sustainability discourse and constructs a sustainable brand, different discursive themes were identified based on the roles the company takes in its communication. The two most prominent roles are the role of the fair company and the role of the innovative company, which further contribute to the maintenance of the sustainability discourse. The result shows that The Body Shop communicates in a transparent way, using informative and persuasive language which creates a sense of credibility. We can conclude that The Body Shop presents itself as a leader in the field and often as the solution to various societal problems. Finally, The Body Shop presents its sustainability communication as a goal rather than a means, as it appears that sustainable development is the company’s sole purpose.

Denna studie har som syfte att analysera vilka klasskildringar som görs i filmen “Parasite” (2019) med fokus på semiotiska element, metaforer och stereotyper. Förhoppningen med studien är att bidra till allmänhetens kunskap om hur visuella resurser som kameravinklar, miljöer, kroppsspråk, kläder, ljus och färgsättning kan användas vid produktioner för att påverka publikens åsikter och uppfattning. Parasite blev av intresse då filmen har fått ett så stort genomslag internationellt, bland annat genom att vara den första icke-engelsktalande filmen som vunnit en Oscar för “best picture”. Filmen har också blivit väldigt omtalad för just hur regissören Bong Joon-ho har lyckats att föra berättelsen om samhällsklassernas skillnader på ett kraftfullt sätt.  Studiens frågeställningar blev: Hur representeras makt och klasskillnader i filmen? Med vilka semiotiska resurser (färgsättning, ljus, kameravinklar, miljöer, kläder och kroppsspråk) reproduceras eller utmanas klasskillnader i filmen? Metodvalet är en visuell multimodal analys där tre filmsekvenser har analyserats. Fokus i studien låg på visuella element och andra icke-visuella delar som kommunicerar filmens handling. De teoretiska ramverken bygger på representationsteori, socialsemiotik och teorin om stereotyper. Dessa har hjälpt studien att ta hänsyn till de kulturella tolkningar och underliggande meningar som finns i filmen vilket blir ett underlag till denna studies analys. Tidigare forskning inom ämnet har fokus på representation, stereotyper, metaforer och ledtrådar då dessa är fenomen som frekvent uppkommer i Parasite.  Resultaten av studien visade att representationen makt och klasskillnader framställdes genom designval som miljöer, kroppsspråk, kläder m.m. Stereotyper om de rika och fattiga användes också, där fattiga är oärliga, bor trångt och saknar formell utbildning medan rika bär lyxiga kläder och bor glamoröst. Men filmen bryter även dessa stereotyper när en fattig person börjar bära kostym och upplevs då som framgångsrik. Studien bidrar till en ökad förståelse för hur visuella medier kan påverka människors synsätt. / This study aimed to analyze the portrayal of class in the film “Parasite” (2019) with a focus on visual elements, metaphors and stereotypes. The aim of the study is to contribute to the public's knowledge of how visual resources such as camera angles, composition, settings, body language, clothing, lighting and coloring can be used in productions to influence the audience's opinions and perceptions. Parasite was of interest because of its international impact, including being the first non-English speaking film to win an Oscar for best picture. The film has also been highly publicized for how director Bong Joon-ho has managed to tell the story of social class differences in a powerful way.  The questions of the study were: How are power and class differences represented in the movie? With which semiotic resources (coloring, lighting, camera angles, environments, clothing and body language) are class differences reproduced or challenged in the film? The chosen method is a visual multimodal analysis where three film sequences have been analyzed. The focus of the study was on visual elements and other non-visual elements that communicate the film's plot. The theoretical frameworks include the theory of representation, social semiotics and the theory of stereotypes. These have helped the study to take into account the cultural interpretations and underlying meanings in the film, which supports the analysis of this study. Previous research on the subject focuses on representation, stereotypes, metaphors and clues used in 'Parasite'.  The results of the study showed that the representation of power and class differences were portrayed through design choices such as settings, body language, clothing etc. Stereotypes of the rich and poor were also used, where the poor are dishonest, live in cramped conditions and lack formal education while the rich wear luxurious clothes and live glamorously. But the movie also breaks these stereotypes when a poor person starts wearing a suit and is perceived as successful. The study contributes to a better understanding of how visual media can influence people's perceptions.

Många människor använder sig idag av olika sociala medier som sin främsta utgångspunkt för information och kommunikation. Bland de sociala medier som används mest har TikTok kommittill att bli en av de mest populära, främst bland den yngre publiken. Innehållet på TikTok har kommit till att bli ett nav för delvis humor och underhållning, men å andra sidan opinionsbildning och åsiktsspridning. Eftersom TikTok är en sådan ny plattform finns det stora forskningsluckorkring mediets funktioner och hur dessa funktioner kan användas för att sprida budskap av alla olika slag. Detta resulterar i spridning av åsikter som inte alltid är hälsosamma. Ett ämne som har på senare tid fått stor spridning på plattformen är kring vad det är att vara “man” idag. Det finns många studier om maskulinitet, men forskning om maskulinitet på TikTok är bristande. Denna studie är därav ämnad till att undersöka hur åsikter kring maskulinitet kan konstrueras i plattformens videomaterial. I denna studie analyserade vi, sammantaget, sex olika videoklipp från TikTok med hjälp av en multimodal kritisk diskursanalys. Den kvalitativa textanalys metoden valdes för att ge oss möjlighet till att analysera och utvinna så många olika visuella och auditiva komponenter i videoklippen somvi ansåg vara relevanta och på så sätt hitta underliggande konnotationer i allt från kroppsspråk till musikval. Vi analyserar videoklippen utifrån ett teoretiskt ramverk som består av bland annat representation, stereotyper och hegemoni. Vårt resultat gav oss två diskurser; Hotad maskulinitet och Maskulinitet som ett spektrum, som presenterar sambanden i vårt material. Det gav oss en ökad insikt om hur TikTok material konstruerar och reproducerar maskulinitet genom semiotiska resurser grundade i hegemoni. De åtskilda trenderna har en tendens att försöka positionera den motsvarande representationen av maskulinitet som överlägsen gentemot andra. Det konstrueras ytterligheter för att visa på rätt och fel. Slutsatsen är att konstruktionen av maskulinitet grundar sig i samma stam, men växer sig ut i olika förgreningar. Vår studie bidrar till insikt kring hur toxisk maskulinitet reproduceras genom TikTok, likt genom andra plattformar, och förhoppningsvis kan insikterna förebygga att detta mönster fortsätter att froda. / Many people today use various social media as their starting point for information and communication. Among the most used social media, TikTok has developed into one of the most popular, mainly among the younger audience. The content on TikTok has come to be a hub for partly humor and entertainment but on the other hand for advocacy and opinion spreading. Because TikTok is such a new platform, there are large research gaps around the medium's functions and how these functions can be used to spread messages of all different kinds. This results in the spread of opinions that are not always healthy. A topic that has recently been widely spread on the platform is about what it is to be a "man" today. There are many studies on masculinity, but research on masculinity on TikTok is lacking. This study is therefore intended to investigate how opinions about masculinity can be constructed in the platform's video material. In this study, we analyzed six different videos from TikTok using multimodal critical discourse analysis. The qualitative text analysis method was chosen to allow us to analyze and extract as many different visual and auditory components in the clips as we thought relevant and thus find underlying connotations in everything from body language to music choices. We analyze the clips based on a theoretical framework that consist of, among other things, representation, stereotypes and hegemony. Our result gave us two discourses; Threatened Masculinity and Masculinity as a Spectrum, which present the connections in our material. It gave us an increased insight into how TikTok material construct and reproduce masculinity through semiotic resources grounded in hegemony. The separate trends tend to try to position the corresponding representation of masculinity as superior to others. Extremes are constructed to demonstrate right and wrong. The conclusion is that the construction of masculinity is based on the same stem but grows in different branches. Our study contributes to insight in how toxic masculinity is reproduced through TikTok, much as through other platforms, and hopefully the insights can prevent this pattern from continuing to thrive.

Den här studien undersöker om det går att återfinna en gestaltning av en ung kvinna idag som använder sin sexualitet som främsta vapen i TV-serien Euphoria. Forskning imom humaniora tyder på att kvinnor i allt yngre ålder lär sig att använda sin sexualitet till sin fördel. Med multimodal kritisk diskursanalys har jag undersökt hur sexualiteten, med ett urval av semiotikens verktyg, i det här fallet färg, symboler och kameravinklar, gestaltas. Vidare har jag undersökt om den unga kvinnan av idag som gestaltas tycks göra just det, använda sin sexualitet som främsta vapen. Detta genom att se till om någonting talar för att hon använder sig av självrepresentation för att representera sexualiteten. Studiens viktigaste resultat är att det går att återfinna tydliga tecken som talar för att den gestaltade unga kvinnan använder sig av sin sexualitet för att gynna den egna självrepresentationen och vidare utvinna makt. / This study is looking to investigate the conscious use of represented sexuality by a young, female character from the TV-series Euphoria. Studies within humanities show that women at early ages learn how to use their sexuality as a weapon. Using multimodal critical discouse analysis, I aim to investigate how this sexuality, with semiotic tools such as color, symbols and angles, is represented. Furthermore, I aim to see if there are any signs of conscious self-representation or use of the sexuality by the young woman, and if it equal power. The most important results found are the clear signs that show how the young woman does indeed use her sexuality for her own benefit. As well as how she, by conscious self-representation gains power.

No description available.

<p>  </p> <p>This dissertation explores multimodal composing strategies enacted by technical and professional communication (TPC) writers during and post-COVID-19 period. The researcher presents an investigation into a course unit project and pedagogical approach framed around the idea of multimodal composition in an upper-division professional writing class with transnational students majoring in management, economics, health science, aviation technology, mathematics, computer engineering, accounting, consumer science, biology, and agronomy in a large research university in the Midwest. This study advocates a multimodal approach to teaching writing in its expanded sense with multimodal career unit project assignments in multiple media and modes, including resumes/CVs, personal statements, LinkedIn profiles, video profiles/resumes, job position analyses, and rhetorical and mode analyses. This project presents implications for instructors of technical and professional communicators who are aiming to develop and update their curricula and teaching pedagogies situated in multiple modes across global audiences, for multiple purposes, and in a variety of media.</p>

In second-hand e-commerce, categorization of new products is typically done by the seller. Automating this process makes it easier to upload ads and could lower the number of incorrectly categorized ads. Automatic ad categorization also makes it possible for a second-hand e-commerce platform to use a more detailed category system, which could make the shopping experience better for potential buyers. Product ad categorization is typically addressed as a text classification problem as most metadata associated with products are textual. By including image information, i.e. using a multimodal approach, better performance can however be expected. The work done in this thesis evaluates different multimodal deep learning models for the task of ad categorization on data from Blocket.se. We examine late fusion models, where the modalities are combined at decision level, and early fusion models, where the modalities are combined at feature level. We also introduce our own approach Text Based Visual Attention  (TBVA), which extends the image CNN Inception v3 with an attention mechanism to incorporate textual information. For all models evaluated, the text classifier fastText is used to process text data and the Inception v3 network to process image data. Our results show that the late fusion models perform best in our setting. We conclude that these models generally learn which of the baseline models to ’trust’, while early fusion and the TBVA models learn more abstract concepts. As future work, we would like to examine how the TBVA models perform on other tasks, such as ad similarity. / Produkter som läggs ut på marknadsplatser, såsom Blocket.se, kategoriseras oftast av säljaren själv. Att automatisera processen för kategorisering gör det därför både enklare och snabbare att lägga upp annonser och kan minska antalet produkter med felaktig kategori. Automatisk kategorisering gör det ocksåmöjligt för marknadsplatsen att använda ett mer detaljerat kategorisystem, vilket skulle kunna effektivisera sökandet efter produkter för potentiella köpare.Produktkategorisering adresseras ofta som ett klassificeringsproblem för text, eftersom den största delen av produktinformationen finns i skriftlig form. Genom att också inkludera produktbilder kan vi dock förvänta oss bättre resultat.I den här uppsatsen evalueras olika metoder för att använda både bild och text för annonsklassificering av data från blocket.se. I synnerhetundersökslate fusion modeller, där informationen från modaliteterna kombineras i samband med klassificeringen, samt early fusion modeller, där modaliteterna istället kombineras på en abstrakt nivå innan klassificeringen. Vi introduserar också vår egen modell Text Based Visual Attention (TBVA), en utvidgning av bildklassificeraren Inception v3 [1], som använder en attention mekanism för att inkorporera textinformation. För alla modeller som beskrivs i denna uppsats används textklassificeraren fast Text[2] för att processa text och bildklassificeraren Inception v3 för att processa bild. Våra resultat visar att late fusion modeller presterar bäst med vår data. I slutsatsen konstateras att late fusion modellerna lär sig vilka fall den ska 'lita' på text eller bild informationen, där early fusion och TBVA modellerna istället lär sig mer abstrakta koncept. Som framtida arbete tror vi det skulle vara av värde att undersöka hur TBVA modellerna presterar på andra uppgifter, såsom att bedöma likheter mellan annonser.

<p>Automatic brain tumor segmentation in Magnetic Resonance Imaging scans is essential for the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of cancerous tumors. However, identifying the hardly detectable tumors poses a considerable challenge, which are usually of different sizes, irregular shapes, and vague invasion areas. Current advancements have not yet fully leveraged the dynamics in the multiple modalities of MRI, since they usually treat multi-modality as multi-channel, and the early channel merging may not fully reveal inter-modal couplings and complementary patterns. In this thesis, we propose a novel deep cross-attention learning algorithm that maximizes the subtle dynamics mining from each of the input modalities and then boosts feature fusion capability. More specifically, we have designed a Multimodal Cross-Attention Module (MM-CAM), equipped with a 3D Multimodal Feature Rectification and Feature Fusion Module. Extensive experiments have shown that the proposed novel deep learning architecture, empowered by the innovative MM- CAM, produces higher-quality segmentation masks of the tumor subregions. Further, we have enhanced the algorithm with image matting refinement techniques. We propose to integrate a Progressive Refinement Module (PRM) and perform Cross-Subregion Refinement (CSR) for the precise identification of tumor boundaries. A Multiscale Dice Loss was also successfully employed to enforce additional supervision for the auxiliary segmentation outputs. This enhancement will facilitate effectively matting-based refinement for medical image segmentation applications. Overall, this thesis, with deep learning, transformer-empowered pattern mining, and sophisticated architecture designs, will greatly advance deep brain dynamics and images mining for tumor detection and precision medicine.</p>

How emotions resonate: A comparative multimodal critical discourse analysis of the campaigns Det är inte för sent and Jag lovar, det är inte värt det. This study aims to identify communication strategies in campaigns against children in gang violence, which is relevant as the challenge shows an increasing tendency in Sweden. This is done by using a multimodal critical discourse analysis on the Det är inte för sent campaign from 2023 by the Swedish non-profit association Bris and Jag lovar, det är inte värt det from 2023 by the Swedish Police. The empirical data has been analyzed through a theoretical framework and chosen analytical tools such as modality, connotation and interaction.Based on the multimodal critical discourse analysis, it has been possible to identify different communication strategies in the campaigns. The result from the analysis shows that there are both similarities and differences between the campaigns. Both campaigns feature accounts from people who have experienced the consequences of gang violence, evoking emotions such as sadness and empathy in the viewer. The main difference between the campaigns is based on its framing. In Det är inte för sent, the message is framed around the idea that young people are affected by gang crime and are not considered perpetrators, while Jag lovar, det är inte värt det.