Compounds forming alloys with lithium, such as silicon or tin, are promising negative electrode materials for the next generation of Li-ion batteries due to their higher theoretical capacity compared to the current commercial electrode materials. An important issue is to better understand the phenomena occurring at the electrode/electrolyte interfaces of these new materials. The stability of the passivation layer (SEI) is crucial for good battery performance and its nature, formation and evolution have to be investigated. It is important to follow upon cycling alloying/dealloying processes, the evolution of surface oxides with battery cycling and the change in surface chemistry when storing electrodes in the electrolyte. The aim of this thesis is to improve the knowledge of these surface reactions through a non-destructive depth-resolved PES (Photoelectron spectroscopy) analysis of the surface of new negative electrodes. A unique combination utilizing hard and soft-ray photoelectron spectroscopy allows by variation of the photon energy an analysis from the extreme surface (soft X-ray) to the bulk (hard X-ray) of the particles. This experimental approach was used to access the interfacial phase transitions at the surface of silicon or tin particles as well as the composition and thickness/covering of the SEI. Interfacial mechanisms occurring upon the first electrochemical cycle of Si-based electrodes cycled with the classical salt LiPF6 were investigated. The mechanisms of Li insertion (LixSi formation) have been illustrated as well as the formation of a new irreversible compound, Li4SiO4, at the outermost surface of the particles. Upon long cycling, the formation of SiOxFy was shown at the extreme surface of the particles by reaction of SiO2 with HF contributing to battery capacity fading. The LiFSI salt, more stable than LiPF6, improved the electrochemical performances. This behaviour is correlated to the absence of SiOxFy upon long-term cycling. Some degradation of LiFSI was shown by PES and supported by calculations. Finally, interfacial reactions occurring upon the first cycle of an intermetallic compound MnSn2 were studied. Compared to Si based electrodes, the SEI chemical composition is similar but the alloying process and the role played by the surface metal oxide are different.

Smärta är en komplex biopsykosocial process i vilken vårdgivarnas bemötande verkar kunna spela en viktig roll. Syftet med denna uppsats var att genom ett experiment undersöka om validering leder till lägre grad av katastrofierande, negativ affekt och ilska samt mer tillfredsställelse med bemötandet jämfört med invalidering. De 62 deltagarna, samtliga studenter utan smärtproblematik, randomiserades till betingelserna validering respektive invalidering. En smärtinducerande övning utfördes varpå deltagarna skattade en rad psykologiska mått. Efter varje övning gavs antingen betingelsen validering eller invalidering. Resultaten indikerar att validering leder till lägre grad av katastrofierande och högre grad av tillfredsställelse jämfört med invalidering. Inga signifikanta skillnader återfanns för negativ affekt och ilska. Sammanfattningsvis verkar validering som bemötande ha en positiv effekt på smärtrelaterade processer. / Pain is a complex, biopsychosocial process, where doctor-patient communication seems to play an important role. This study experimentally tested whether validation leads to less catastrophizing, negative affect and anger, and higher satisfaction compared to invalidation, in a sample of 62 healthy students. The participants were randomized to either validation or invalidation. After engaging in a pain inducing task, the participants completed a form, measuring different psychological aspects, followed by a short interaction where the validation or invalidation was provided by the experimenter. The results indicate that validation leads to less catastrophizing and more satisfaction than invalidation. No significant results were found for negative affect or anger. In summary, validation seems to have a positive effect on pain outcome.

This paper examines and evaluates one of the entry barriers in the Swedish upper secondary school market,the governmental imposed restriction which states that the establishment of an independent school can notresult in substantial negative eects for municipal schools. Identication of what variables are consideredwhen ruling the establishment of an independent school inappropriate due to the risk of causing substantialnegative eects is carried out through quantitative analysis by gathering data from a stratied sample ofapplications sent in to the Swedish School Inspectorate 2011 and 2012 to start or expand independentschools. The probability of getting an application to start or expand independent school is regressed on thepredicted number of remaining students at municipal schools, on the predicted student population changeand on the municipality recommendation. The models developed show that the predicted number ofstudents left in municipal schools has a big impact on the probability of getting an application approvedwith distinct kinks in the explanatory power. The result also show that the predicted student populationschange is taken into account but that the municipal recommendation is not.

In the last decade, design and application of negative materials have been one of the most interesting subjects in the electromagnetic research. The extraordinary properties of double negative (DNG) and single negative (SNG) materials have been studied extensively over this period. In this thesis, one of the unusual properties of negative materials, the evanescent amplification, is used to improve the sensitivity of the near field probes. The effect of placing DNG and SNG layers between the near field probes and the targets are investigated theoretically. A sensitivity definition is introduced for evanescent probes and it is shown using quantitative measures that the sensitivity can be increased using DNG and SNG materials for a target in vacuum and for a buried target. The electromagnetic loss of the negative materials and the mismatch between the material properties of the host medium and DNG and SNG materials are studied. Using an unmatched DNG layer or SNG layer enhances the sensitivity within an evanescent spectrum range while a lossless and matched DNG layer improves the sensitivity of entire evanescent spectrum. The idea of using negative materials is implemented over conventional near field probes by numerical experiments. Sensitivities of open-ended waveguides and open-ended coaxial lines for a specific application are studied in the presence of negative materials. In the case of precursor pitting detection on airplane bodies, the sensitivity of an open-ended waveguide probe is increased by 35 times for a λ/10 sized cubic crack. It is also shown that the negative material increases the quality of the image generated by the probe. The sensitivity improvement is also verified for an open-ended coaxial line. A 11 times improvement is achieved for a similar detection practice, with a λ/20 sized crack. The effect of coaxial line size and the dielectric material on the sensitivity enhancement are studied. The improvement is studied theoretically and numerically for an electrically small dipole. Theoretical studies show that when a small dipole is placed within a spherical shell made of DNG materials, the antenna parameters of the dipole becomes more sensitive to the position of a target placed outside the negative material shell. The field distribution generated by a small dipole in a multilayered spherical medium is studied for this purpose. Numerical analysis of a small dipole placed next to a planar DNG layer is presented. The DNG layer increases the sensitivity of the dipole due to a λ/30 sized metallic target by 5.5 times. To provide experimental verification, the sensitivity of an electrically small loop is studied. SNG materials with a negative permeability around 1.25 GHz are designed using modified split ring resonators (MSRR). By using the effective parameters of the designed structure, a sensitivity improvement of 10 times is achieved numerically. The improvement is verified using fabricated MSRR structures. The sensitivity of the small loop is enhanced by 9 times for a λ/12.2 sized metallic target. The sensitivity improvements are achieved within the frequency band where the MSRR structures behave as a μ-negative SNG material.

In his landmark work World Poverty and Human Rights, Thomas Pogge offers a novel approach to understanding the nature and extent of the obligations that citizens of wealthy states owe to their less fortunate counterparts in poor states. Pogge argues that the wealthy have weighty obligations to aid the global poor because the wealthy coercively impose institutions on the poor that leave their human rights, particularly their subsistence rights avoidably unfulfilled. Thus, Pogge claims that the wealthy states' obligations to the poor are ultimately generated by their negative duties, that is, their duties to refrain from harming. In this essay, I argue that Pogge cannot successfully appeal to negative duties in way that would appease his critics because his notion of a negative duty is seriously indeterminate, so much so as to compromise his ability to plausibly appeal to it.

Pathways to becoming a college student are as numbered and varied as college students themselves. For some people, the pathway to college is marked by barriers, such as negative messages received by the student regarding their abilities to attend college and/or the likelihood that they will get to attend college. On one hand, research suggests that children and adolescents internalize these negative messages, which then have the potential to block achievement in higher education. On the other hand, the general body of resilience research suggests that youth can overcome challenges and defy negative influences, as did the participants of the current study. However, little is known about this process of achievement in the face of negative predictions. Consequently, the current study used qualitative grounded theory methodology to explore the experience of defying negative messages received about becoming a college student. In unstructured interviews, fourteen undergraduate students described their experience of receiving negative messages about their abilities to attend college or the likelihood that they would get to attend college, as well as their subsequent experience of becoming college students in the face of these messages. Based on the literature regarding resilience, negative prediction defiance, and the effects of expectations on academic competence, an ecological model of overcoming negative messages was proposed in which micro, meso, and macrosystemic influences were hypothesized to play a role in encouraging or discouraging college attendance. Although participants came from diverse demographic backgrounds and experienced varied types of negative messages, all of their narratives shared major components, which comprise the theory proposed in the current study. These components are sources of negative messages, perceived underlying influences on sources, reasons to defy the message, facilitators of defiance, and barriers to defiance. This theory was compared to existing theories regarding resilience, negative prediction defiance, and the effects of expectations on academic competence. Additionally, research and policy implications are discussed that highlight the importance of providing youth who may be at-risk to receive negative messages with support in their families, schools, and communities.

My Trip to Notan charts my own journey from the rawness and acceptance of multiple life losses into understanding, and finally, renewal. The key result of this project is a prototype book, a 48-page digital Print-On-Demand (POD) publication, which also includes a DVD that inserts into book’s back and features live demonstrations, interviews and other segments related to the book. Additionally, the body of work from which the book was gleaned was presented at the thesis exhibition. Ultimately, My Trip to Notan is a sketch of my understanding of the framework that threads through design, physics and philosophy, inspired by the simplicity of the ancient art of Notan, and upon my own fragmentary observations gathered from the journey. My hope was to reveal some sense of the pulse that drives the inquiry, rather than the suggestion of any sort of destination.

Policyholder exercise behavior presents an important risk factor for life insurance companies. Yet, most approaches presented in the academic literature – building on value maximizing strategies akin to the valuation of American options – do not square well with observed prices and exercise patterns. Following a recent strand of literature, in order to gain insights on what drives policyholder behavior, I first develop a life-cycle model for variable annuities (VA) with withdrawal guarantees. However, I explicitly allow for outside savings and investments, which considerably affects the results. Specifically, I find that withdrawal patterns after all are primarily motivated by value maximization – but with the important asterisk that the value maximization should be taken out from the policyholders’ perspective accounting for individual tax benefits. To this effect, I develop a risk-neutral valuation methodology that takes these different tax structures into consideration, and apply it to our example contract as well as a representative empirical VA. The results are in line with corresponding outcomes from the life cycle model, and I find that the withdrawal guarantee fee from the empirical product roughly accords with its marginal price to the insurer. I further consider the implications of policyholder behavior on product design. In particular – due to differential tax treatments and contrary to option pricing theory – the marginal value of such guarantees can become negative, even when the holder is a value maximizer. For instance, as I illustrate with both a simple two-period model and an empirical VA, a common death benefit guarantee may indeed yield a negative marginal value to the insurer.

Title: Negative effects of sponsorship – A quantitative study of negative effects of image transfer through sponsorship in the U.K Course: European Business, Undergraduate thesis at C-level, 15 Hp. Authors: Alexander Runsbech & Daniel Sjölin   Objective: The objective with this thesis is to identify and describe how a sponsoring company’s image and reputation is affected by negative behaviour by the sponsored resource and its effects on consumer attitude and buyer behaviour. Methodology: An abductive approach, with an extensive procedure, which has been conducted through a quantitative study.  Theoretical frame of reference: In order to gain a better understanding and greater knowledge of sponsorship and its surrounding concepts, three models has been used in the thesis; The Sponsorship Portfolio Model, A-ERIC Model and The Image Creation and Image Transfer Model. In the basis to these three, a new model has been developed to explain the linkage between negative exposure and negative consumer attitude changes – The Negative Sponsorship Effects Model (N-SEM). Results: A quantitative study has been preformed with the help of a questionnaire, based on 26 questions regarding sponsorship knowledge, attitude changes and buyer behaviour changes. 12 of the questions have been based on actual case studies regarding sponsorship incidents. Analysis: The analysis has been based on the results provided by the quantitative survey and has been divided into two parts, according to the structure of the survey – a section analysing the general questions and a section analysing the case study questions. Both parts have then been linked the newly developed N-SEM to provide a deeper analysis and understanding of the subject. Conclusion: The effects of negative exposure, due to an incident involving the sponsored could result in a transfer of image, which can affect the consumer’s attitude negatively towards the sponsoring company. However, the negative attitude does not necessarily imply an alteration in buyer behaviour. The intensity of media exposure will influence the extent of transferral of associations between sponsored and sponsor, and subsequently the degree of which attitude could change.

The relationship between positive emotions and school satisfaction was studied in 19 adolescents aged 13,57 to 15,17 years (M=14,45, SD=0,446), of these 50% were female. The subjects were all Caucasian native Swedish speakers. Schools satisfaction, life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect and gratitude was measured at the beginning of the study and again fourteen days later. During the fourteen days, the subjects were given a task to carry out each day. The control condition was asked to list up to five things that had affected them during the last day. The experimental condition was asked to list up to five things they were grateful for in the last day. The results did not show any relationship between positive affect and school satisfaction. It is suggested that the results might be caused by either too little time for the intervention to cause a significant effect, by the subjects failing to carry out the given task each day or by too few subjects to rule out random effects.