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Due to unsustainable production and consumption patterns that cause climate changes, current socio-technical systems, such as the agro-food system, must rapidly undergo sustainability transitions. To transition socio-technical systems is however complex and it usually takes decades, and it is therefore crucial to study how socio-technical systems can transition faster.  Aim – This study aims to investigate under what circumstances a sustainability transition through an increased cultivation of grain-legumes in Sweden can take place and be accelerated. In order to guide the study and thus fulfil the purpose, two research questions have been formulated: 1)  “What are the current main factors that hinder a sustainability transition in terms of an increased cultivation of grain-legumes in the current agricultural value chain of crop production in Sweden?” 2)  “What prerequisites are required to accelerate sustainability transitions in the agricultural value chain of crop production in terms of an increased cultivation of grain-legumes in Sweden?” Method – The methodology used is a qualitative case study of the Swedish agricultural value chain of crop production. The data was collected through interviews, literature review and webinars. The data collected through interviewing was analyzed by using a thematic analysis.  Findings – One main hindering factor refer to the absence of certain value chain processes, both when it comes to actors that can provide Swedish plant-based food producers with extracted proteins from grain-legumes and when it comes to actors that can receive, sort, peel and pack grain-legumes for human consumption at an industrial level. Other main hindering factors regards the lack of financial incentives at several levels as well as a structured and stabilized agricultural socio-technical regime characterized by path dependencies and lock-ins. The found prerequisites required in order to accelerate sustainability transitions include for instance having certain value chain processes to come into place, steer large investments and educated people in the right direction to drive innovation and development as well as an increased sustainability transitioning pressure from the civil society in Sweden.   Implications – The findings of this thesis can increase the knowledge of actors engaged in the agricultural value chain of crop production, but also provide valuable insights for the whole Swedish agro-food sector. This study also provides insights regarding how a sustainability transition can be accelerated based on the findings from the studied case. Another implication is that a larger focus, when researching sustainability transitions, should be put on the role of civil society to understand and facilitate faster sustainability transitions in socio-technical systems. Limitations – The political perspective is not considered, the internal strategies of actors have not been investigated and the focus has only been at the environmental dimension of sustainability, not on the social or economic dimensions.

This thesis studies the transfer of disability targets in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to the local level in Sweden and how this implementation contributes to the Agenda’s result on a global scale. In the summary of its final official report to the Swedish Government (SOU 2019:13), the Swedish Delegation for the 2030 Agenda states that the expression ‘sustainable development’ is applied in Sweden in two ways: while it is used witha focus on its environmental dimension, there is another, broader definition that also encompasses its social and economic dimensions. In its own terms, the Delegation consistently adheres to the broader definition, in accordance with the meaning of the 2030 Agenda (SOU 2019:13, p. 27). Rather than concentrating on the more amply researched and documented environmental dimension, this thesis highlights a social and economic dimension of the Agenda’s local implementation, bearing in mind the Agenda’s pledge that no one willbe left behind. It examines how those among the 169 targets dealing with the interests of people with disabilities are transposed down to the local level and implemented. The conclusion points at the fact that, although all goals seem understood as indivisible at each level, results may uncover a big difference in how they are implemented and/or measured inpractice, at each of the political-administrative levels involved, which makes it difficult to produce data on quantifiable progress on a specific target.

Whenever agents deal with confidential information, it is important that they comply with a principled security policy. We show how the database concept of multi-level security can be applied to inter-agent communication. This includes the case where an unauthorized agent is misinformed on purpose in order to protect confidential information.

The Principal Stratification method estimates a causal intervention effect by taking account of subjects' differences in participation, adherence or compliance. The current Principal Stratification method has been mostly used in randomized intervention trials with randomization at a single (individual) level with subjects who were randomly assigned to either intervention or control condition. However, randomized intervention trials have been conducted at group level instead of individual level in many scientific fields. This is so called "two-level randomization", where randomization is conducted at a group (second) level, above an individual level but outcome is often observed at individual level within each group. The incorrect inferences may result from the causal modeling if one only considers the compliance from individual level, but ignores it or be determine it from group level for a two-level randomized trial. The Principal Stratification method thus needs to be further developed to address this issue. To extend application of the Principal Stratification method, this research developed a new methodology for causal inferences in two-level intervention trials which principal stratification can be formed by both group level and individual level compliance. Built on the original Principal Stratification method, the new method incorporates a range of alternative methods to assess causal effects on a population when data on exposure at the group level are incomplete or limited, and are data at individual level. We use the Gatekeeper Training Trial, as a motivating example as well as for illustration. This study is focused on how to examine the intervention causal effect for schools that varied by level of adoption of the intervention program (Early-adopter vs. Later-adopter). In our case, the traditional Exclusion Restriction Assumption for Principal Stratification method is no longer hold. The results show that the intervention had a stronger impact on Later-Adopter group than Early-Adopter group for all participated schools. These impacts were larger for later trained schools than earlier trained schools. The study also shows that the intervention has a different impact on middle and high schools.

Med en ökad utmaning i samhället med att hantera risker och dess konsekvenser sätts en allt större press på samhällets förmåga att agera vid oönskade händelser. Studien omfattar Blekinge län och har som syfte att analysera hur flernivåstyrning påverkar arbetet med risk och sårbarhet. Syftet besvaras av två frågeställningar som behandlar samverkan och utmaningar mellan administrativa nivåer. Studien baseras på en abduktiv ansats där teorin väljs utifrån empirin. Teorin i studiens sammanhang är flernivåstyrning vars ändamål är att analysera studiens tidigare forskning och resultat. Studiens resultat utgörs av en dokumentanalys av risk- och sårbarhetsanalyser (RSA) samt en intervjustudie med tjänstemän som visar på att samverkan mellan administrativa nivåer fungerar. Däremot finns det utmaningar med ansvarsfördelningen som är en konsekvens av en bristande kommunikation i ett hierarkiskt beroende system. Utmaningarna påverkar hur arbetet aggregeras upp i de administrativa nivåerna. / With an increased challenge in society in managing risks and their consequences, an increasing pressure is put on society's ability to act in the event of undesirable events. The study covers Blekinge County and aims to analyze how multilevel governance affects risk and vulnerability. The purpose is answered by two questions that explore collaboration and challenges between administrative levels. The study is based on an abductive approach where the theory is chosen based on empirical data. Results from the study are created by a document analysis of risk- and vulnerability documents (RVA) as well as an interview study from municipal employees. The result shows that collaboration between administrative levels works. However, there are challenges with the division of responsibilities from a lack of communication in a hierarchically dependent system. The challenges affect how the analysis is aggregated up to the administrative levels.

Klimatförändringar och effekterna av global uppvärmning är ett växande problem i världen och anses vara en av vår tids största utmaningar. Idag står Sveriges inrikes transporter av en tredjedel av landets totala växthusgasutsläpp och är i hög grad beroende av fossila drivmedel. För att eftersträva ett hållbart energisystem har politikerna satt upp ett mål om en fossilfri fordonsflotta år 2030. För att uppnå detta mål behöver koldioxidintensiva energikällor gradvis ersättas med renare alternativ. Där har bland andra elfordon och bränslecellsfordon potential att vara nycklar i en sådan teknisk omvandling. Dock finns det många barriärer för att implementera vätgas som drivmedel, däribland de finansiella riskerna kring den stora investeringen i samband med upprättandet av produktion och infrastruktur. Syftet med rapporten har varit att studera om, och på vilket sätt, vätgasdrivna bränslecellsfordon kan bidra till en teknisk omvandling av den svenska transportsektorn. Den ekonomiska ägandekostnaden för fyra utvalda fordonsapplikationer; gaffeltruckar, bussar, distributionsfordon och båtar har studerats för att undersöka vilka som har störst potential att bidra till de vätgasdrivna bränslecellsfordonens genomslag ur ett marknadsmässigt och ekonomiskt perspektiv. Varje fordonsapplikation har jämförts med sina respektive konventionella och/eller miljöanpassade motsvarigheter genom beräkningsmodellen Total Cost of Ownership. Vidare har applicerandet av ett systemperspektiv, med de teoretiska ramverken Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) och Strategic Niche Management (SNM) i fokus, varit värdefullt för förståelsen av vätgasens och bränslecellsfordonens roll i kontexten av ett sociotekniskt system och för att identifiera hur marknadsintroduktionen och diffusionen av dessa ska ske på ett hållbart sätt. Resultaten i denna studie visar på att initiala satsningar på småskaliga projekt inom vätgasdrivna fordonsapplikationer så som gaffeltruckar, bussar, distributionsfordon och båtar har potential att fungera som en katalysator för en framtida introduktion av vätgasdrivna bränslecellsfordon. Sådana projekt skulle inte omedelbart leda till en avsevärd reduktion av koldioxidutsläpp utan snarare hjälpa att bryta barriärerna och underlätta för en framtida marknadsintroduktion av vätgasdrivna bränslecellsfordon i Sverige. Ur ett större perspektiv skulle utvecklingen av vätgasdrivna bränslecellsfordon även uppmuntra till en spridning av andra miljöanpassade alternativ, vilket ytterligare driver fram den tekniska omvandlingen genom positiva feedback-loopar. Då en teknisk omvandling av den svenska transportsektorn kräver en kombination av flera drivmedel och tekniker bör vätgasdrivna bränslecellsfordon betraktas som ett komplement till andra miljöanpassade alternativ, inte en konkurrent. Vidare tyder resultaten på att vätgasdrivna bränslecellstruckar (gaffeltruckar) och bränslecellsbussar kan bli de första applikationerna som introduceras i Sverige via småskaliga implementationsprojekt fram till år 2030 och därefter kommersialiseras. Dessa applikationer har de ekonomiska förutsättningarna som krävs och det finns i dagsläget tydliga drivkrafter och aktörer som verkar för deras utveckling i Sverige. Distributionsfordon med vätgasdrivna räckviddsförlängare finns i Europa och kan, givet att Bonus-malus systemet introduceras, bli ekonomiskt försvarbara i Sverige. Inom båt-applikationen anses pendelfärjor vara lämpliga för enstaka projekt som kan gynna diffusionen av vätgasdrivna bränslecellsfordon, medan deras verkliga genomslag tros bortom 2030. Däremot kan dynamiska effekter i det sociotekniska systemet påskynda utvecklingen applikationerna emellan. Vidare har styrmedel och samordning av infrastruktur och andra strategiska samarbeten identifieras som de viktigaste lösningarna för att få igenom småskaliga implementationsprojekt på kort sikt, och större strukturella förändringar i det svenska transportsystemet på lång sikt. Det bör belysas att nya alternativ så som vätgas och bränslecellsfordon ofta genomgår en långsam marknadsutveckling. Det är därför väsentligt att skapa rimliga förväntningar då det krävs stora förändringar inom infrastrukturen och transportmönster samt betydande teknikutveckling för att dessa ska nå marknadsmässig mognad.

This study examines the language used by independent distributors in Multi-Level Marketing companies (MLMs) when attempting to recruit new people into the business. Social media posts and messages were read and analysed to identify themes or categories within the data, which each detailed a means used by distributors to recruit new distributors or customers. The findings were then analysed in relation to Steven Hassan's BITE-model of authoritarian control; Robert Cialdini's principles of inlfuence; Roman Jakobson's pragmatic functions; and Roland Barthes thery of cultural. The findings showed that the most frequent tactic used by the distributors was different forms of emotional tactics. The distributors also used signifiers to evoke cultural myths regarding how one should live one's life and how their MLM could help people achieve that lifestyle. Lastly, questions were frequently used in order to prolong communication between distributor and prospective recruit or customer.

This dissertation is concerned with the unconstrained global optimization of nonlinear problems. These problems are not easy to solve because of the multiplicity of local and global minima. In this dissertation, we first study the pattern search method for local optimization. We study the pattern search method numerically and provide a modification to it. In particular, we design a new pattern search method for local optimization. The new pattern search improves the efficiency and reliability of the original pattern search method. We then designed two simulated annealing algorithms for global optimization based on the basic features of pattern search. The new methods are therefore hybrid. The first hybrid method is the hybrid of simulated annealing and pattern search. This method is denoted by MSA. The second hybrid method is a combination of MSA and the multi-level single linkage method. This method is denoted by SAPS. The performance of MSA and SAPS are reported through extensive experiments on 50 test problems. Results indicate that the new hybrids are efficient and reliable.

The fashion industry is a tremendous threat to our global environment and the massive creation of waste is linked to the current linear economical system, which can be explained as take-make-waste. A step away from this traditional model has gained a lot of attention in the clothing industry, where the concept of circular economy has emerged as a vital solution. Circular economy has many definitions but it is focused on closing the loop of resources, minimize the total amount of waste, and retain the value of a product for as long as possible. The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges and opportunities of waste reduction as a part of the transitions towards a more circular economy within the fashion industry. This has been done throughout qualitative research in the form of semi-structured interviews and collection of documents on the Swedish fashion industry. Because transitions and long-term changes seldom happen due to one particular reason, the gathered empirical data has been analyzed from a holistic view, using the framework of multi-level perspective to understand the dynamics between different factors, levels, and dimensions in the transition to a more circular economy. The findings showed that the clothing companies have, to different degrees, strategies of how to reduce more waste in their organization. These strategies are more linked to incremental changes and there are at the moment barriers making it difficult for the industry to find more radical system solutions. However, as new technologies emerge, together with new regulations and support from governance, the clothing industry could be one step closer to reaching circularity. In the transition toward a more circular economy, pressure from different levels could steer the industry into a new direction and change the very heart of our consumption.