Introduktion: Hepatit C är en global folkhälsoutmaning, med 58 miljoner som lever med kronisk infektion. Sverige har cirka 45 000 diagnostiserade fall, med hög odiagnostiserade förekomst. Hepatit C är ofta asymtomatisk, kan leda till allvarliga leverkomplikationer och död. Hepatit C är en blodsmitta och den vanligaste smittvägen är delade injektionsnålar/utrustning därav är intravenösa missbrukare en grupp som ofta drabbas. Behandlingen mot hepatit C har utvecklats med effektiva antivirala läkemedel sedan 2014, och nya riktlinjer innebär behandling för alla, även de med pågående missbruk. Eliminering av hepatit C är ett globalt hälsomål och kopplas till FN:s Agenda 2030 för hållbar utveckling. Syfte: Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var 1) beskriva olika interventioner som syftar till att eliminera hepatit C bland personer som missbrukar intravenösa droger genom att öka deltagande och 2) utvärdera interventionernas effekter avseende behandlingsdeltagande och behandlingsresultat. Metod: En strukturerad litteraturstudie genomfördes med tematisk analys och deduktiv ansats som analysmetod. Resultatet baseras på tio artiklar som kvalitetsgranskades. Resultat: Två teman identifierades; “Interventioner med fokus att öka delaktighet och deltagande av personer som injicerar droger i hepatit C-interventioner” och “Effekter på behandlingsdeltagande och behandlingsutfall”. Till dessa teman fanns även sex subteman. Resultaten visar att interventioner som inkluderar uppsökande verksamhet och integrerad vård har varit framgångsrika med att engagera personer som injicerar droger i hepatit C-vård. Slutsats: Eliminering av hepatit C är ett globalt mål som kan uppnås genom effektiva interventioner. Framgångsrik implementering av interventioner kräver ökad tillgänglighet, minskade hinder och förtroendeskapande interaktion. Det krävs fortsatt utveckling och breddning av interventioner. / Introduction: Hepatitis C is a global public health challenge, with 58 million people living with a chronic infection. Sweden has approximately 45 000 diagnosed cases, with a high prevalence of undiagnosed cases. Hepatitis C is often asymptomatic, can lead to severe liver complications and death. Hepatitis C is a bloodborne infection, and the most common route of transmissions is through shared injection needles/equipment hence intravenous drugs users are at a higher risk. Treatment for hepatitis C has evolved with effective antiviral drugs since 2014, and new guidelines advocate treatment for everyone, including those with ongoing substance abuse. Eliminating hepatitis C is a global health goal linked to the UN’s Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. Aim: The aim of this literature review was 1) to describe various interventions used to attempt the eradicate of hepatitis C among people who inject drugs, and 2) to evaluate the effects of the interventions in terms of treatment participation and treatment outcomes. Method: A structured literature review was conducted using thematic analysis with a deductive approach as the analysis method. The results are based on ten quality-reviewed articles. Results: Two themes were identified: "Interventions with a focus on increasing involvement and participation of people who inject drugs in hepatitis C interventions" and "Effects on treatmeant participation and treatment outcomes." Six subthemes also emerged within these themes. The results indicate that interventions involving outreach and integrated care have been successful in engaging people who inject drugs in hepatitis C care. Conclusion: Elimination of hepatitis C is a global goal achievable through effective interventions. Successful implementation requires increased accessibility, reduced barriers, and trust-building interaction. Continued development and expansion of interventions are necessary.

Användarinvolvering är en central del av produktutvecklingsprocessen då den sätter grunden för hur produkten som utvecklas kommer att mottas av användarna. Utvecklingen av skidor för utförsåkning är en väldigt teknisk process som innefattar många komplicerade steg. Användarna involveras på olika sätt inom olika företag. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur olika företag går tillväga under sin produktutvecklingsprocess när det kommer till graden av användarinvolvering. Studien undersöker även hur användarinvolveringen skiljer sig mellan olika användargrupper samt vilka fördelar användarinvolvering medför. En litteraturstudie gjordes för att bygga en teoretisk referensram som ligger i grunden för arbetet. Därefter intervjuades fyra olika små skidtillverkare. Tre av tillverkarna kommer från Sverige och en av dem kommer från Schweiz. Intervjuerna transkriberades och koder plockades ut för att skapa en grund till empirin. Koderna skapade fem teman som presenterar resultaten från intervjuerna. De fem temana är: produktutvecklingsprocessen, användarinvolvering, fördelar med användarinvolvering, nackdelar med användarinvolvering samt användarinvolvering beroende på användargrupp. Företagen jämfördes mot varandra och mot litteraturen för att skapa slutsatser från studien. Studien kom fram till att användarinvolvering är viktigt för att företagen ska veta vad användarna i slutändan vill ha för produkt. Användarinvolveringen ska påbörjas så tidigt som möjligt i processen för att det skapar mer möjligheter för justeringar än sen involvering gör. Det är också viktigt att företaget bygger på passionerade anställda och att de användare som involveras är duktiga skidåkare för att kunna ge bra återkoppling på skidorna. Användarna kan tillföra mycket när det kommer till åkegenskaper och känsla men när det kommer till det mer tekniska i skidan så som material är användarna sällan tillräckligt pålästa för att kunna tillföra något. / User involvement is a central part of the product development process due to its importance on how the product develops and will be received by the users. The development of free-ride skis is a very technical process that includes many complicated steps. The users are involved in many different ways within different companies.  The purpose with this study is to examine how different companies go about during their product development process, when it comes to the degree of user involvement. The study also investigates how the user involvement differs between various user groups, as well as what advantages user involvement brings.  A literature study was made to build a theoretical frame that underlies the work. Thereafter four minor ski-companies were interviewed. Three of the companies come from Sweden and one of them comes from Switzerland. The interviews were transcripted and codes were taken out to create a foundation to the empirics. The codes created five themes that present the result from the interviews. The five themes were: the product development process, user involvement, advantages with user involvement, disadvantages with user involvement and user involvement regarding user groups.  The companies were compared against each other and against the literature to create conclusions from the study. The study concluded that user involvement is important for companies to know what users ultimately want from the product. User involvement should be started as early as possible in the process, because it creates more opportunities for adjustments than late involvement does. It is also important that the company is based on passionate employees and that the users involved are competent skiers to be able to give good feedback on the skis. The users can add much information about the feeling in the skis and what characteristics they would want in the skis but they rarely have enough information to add anything important to the technical parts such as materials of the ski.

ChatGPT has become a popular technology among people and gained a considerable user base, because of its power to effectively generate responses to users requests. However, as ChatGPT’s popularity has grown and as other natural language processing systems (NLPs) are being developed and adopted, several concerns have been raised about the technology that could have implications on user trust. Because trust plays a central role in user willingness to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) systems and there is no consensus in research on what facilitates trust, it is important to conduct more research to identify the factors that affect user trust in artificial intelligence systems, especially modern technologies such as NLPs. The aim of the study was therefore to identify the factors that affect user trust in NLPs. The findings from the literature within trust and artificial intelligence indicated that there may exist a relationship between trust and transparency, explainability, accuracy, reliability, automation, augmentation, anthropomorphism and data privacy. These factors were quantitatively studied together in order to uncover what affects user trust in NLPs. The result from the study indicated that transparency, accuracy, reliability, automation, augmentation, anthropomorphism and data privacy all have a positive impact on user trust in NLPs, which both supported and opposed previous findings from literature.

Conclusions. The "bridging effect" for HIV transmission is evident. Variables predicting condom use during commercial sex are multidimensional. Integrative programs are hence required. Methadone clinics may offer a platform for offering such services to IDU-FSWs. The performance of the TPB could be enhanced by addition of external variables; its applicability varies according to the wellbeing status of the IDU-FSWs. Future randomized control studies are warranted to design effective evidence-based programs targeting IDU-FSWs. / Introduction. Injecting drug users (IDUs) drive the HIV epidemic in China. Female injecting drug users who are sex workers (IDU-FSWs) is a strategic "bridge population" for HIV transmission from the IDU to non-IDU populations. Background characteristics, health behavioral theories (e.g. the Theory of Planned Behavior, TPB), drug dependence, economic pressure, psychological problems, social support and gender power are potential predictors of condom use during commercial sex among IDU-FSWs. Most of these associations have not been investigated in China or elsewhere, and the TPB has not been applied to HIV-vulnerable populations in China. A knowledge gap exists. / Objectives. This study validated two instruments measuring severity of drug dependence. The prevalence of inconsistent condom use among IDU-FSWs and its associations with the aforementioned variables were investigated. The hypotheses that different blocks of variables would have independent effects on condom use during commercial sex, and the effects of TPB-related variables on condom use would be moderated by some external variables (e.g. severity of drug dependence) were tested. / Results. The Opiate Addiction Severity Inventory-Revised (OASI-R) was fully validated in the Study I. Around 6.8% of IDU-FSWs were HIV positive and respectively 48% and 64% of them practiced needle sharing and unprotected commercial sex (last six months). After adjusting for significant background variables, the five TPB-related variables (AOR=0.43 to 1.92, p<0.001), severity of drug dependence (AOR=1.05, p<0.01), economic pressure (AOR=1.07, p<0.05) and all studied psychosocial variables (e.g. depression, social support and gender power; AOR=0.70 to 1.67, p<0.05) were significantly associated with condom use during commercial sex. / Subjects and methods. Two cross-sectional studies were conducted. In Study I, 178 non-institutionalized drug users were interviewed in Dazhou, Sichuan. In Study II, 281 non-institutionalized IDU-FSWs were interviewed in Dazhou, Sichuan and Hengyang, Hunan, using snowballing method and face-to-face interviews. Statistical methods such as hierarchical and interaction modeling, stratification analysis, ROC method were used in this study. / The final hierarchical model predicting condom use during commercial sex included variables coming from four blocks of independent variables, with ROC area = 94% and sensitivity/specificity = 0.84/0.91. A "Wellbeing Status Index" moderated the associations between some of the TPB-related variables and condom use during commercial sex. / Gu, Jing. / Adviser: Joseph T. F. Lau. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: B, page: 3462. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 228-246). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

Conclusion. The significance of risk perception in predicting behavioral intention, hence actual future behaviors, is therefore evident. Conditional measures need to be used. HIV prevention can employ conditional risk perception approaches. Health behavioral theories can be strengthened by using such conditional measures on risk perceptions. The results add to this new and growing area of risk behavior research. / Introduction. Risk perception, a core element of key health behavioral theories and health interventions, is assumed to motivate people to avoid risk behaviors. Mixed findings however prevail in the literature due to methodological issues. Many of such studies are cross-sectional, using global risk perception measures that do not condition on type of risk behavior or partnership which may affect the level of risk. / Male injecting drug users (IDU) are driving the HIV epidemic in China and bridge HIV transmission to non-IDU female populations; they may be at risk of both unprotected sex and syringe sharing. HIV prevention targeting male IDU is greatly warranted and would benefit from understanding of the relationships between risk perceptions and behaviors, in the context of health behavioral theories such as the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) model, which had not been applied to studies targeting IDU. / Objectives. This study refined the concepts and measures of HIV-related risk perception, conditioning on different types of behaviors and partners, and extended it to include others-directed risk perceptions. The relationship between such conditional risk perception measures and both prior risk behaviors and behavioral intention to avoid sex-related and drug-related risk behaviors in the future were investigated and were compared to those involving global unconditional risk perception measures. The nature of the aforementioned relationships, being motivational or reflective was investigated. A longitudinal component validated the predictive power of behavioral intention over actual future behaviors. / Results. Almost 90% of the respondents had had unprotected sex though <20% shared syringes with others in the last 6 months. Prior syringe sharing but not unprotected sex in the last 6 months was significantly associated with global unconditional risk perception measures. The picture is totally different when risk perception measures conditioned on type of sex partner and unprotected sex or syringe sharing were used instead of the global measures---higher levels of the conditional risk perception measures were significantly associated with higher levels of behavioral intention for consistent condom use and avoidance of syringe sharing, thus supporting the motivational hypothesis. Conditional others-directed risk perceptions (perceived risk of transmitting HIV to others via unprotected sex and syringe sharing) were also associated with the aforementioned behavioral intentions to avoid risk behaviors. A pilot longitudinal study showed that behavioral intentions strongly predict actual future behaviors. Other HAPA-based variables such as self-efficacy and outcome expectancies had predictive effects on behavioral intentions, independent from those of risk perceptions. / Subjects and methods. A total of 456 sexually active male IDU were recruited from Dazhou, Sichuan and Hengyang, Hunan, via snowball sampling. With informed consent, anonymous face-to-face interviews were conducted by trained and experienced staff of the local CDC in privacy settings. / Tsui, Hi Yi. / Adviser: Joseph Lau. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-04, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-130). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; appendix in Chinese.

The aim of this study was to investigate the extent of access to and use of library electronic resources and their implications on remote users at the National Open University of Nigeria. Specific objectives were formulated to: find out the different types of electronic resources available in the NOUN Library; investigate academic staffs’ and students’ level of awareness of electronic resources available in the NOUN library; explore the various types of electronic resources used by academic staffs and students of NOUN; find out how academic staffs and students access and use electronic resources in NOUN library; analyze the policies that enable access to and use of electronic resources by academic staffs and students at NOUN; find out the perceptions and attitudes of academic staffs and students toward the electronic resources available in the NOUN library; and identify the challenges associated with access to and use of electronic resources by the academic staffs and students of NOUN. The study adopted a quantitative research approach and survey research method was employed. The study targeted 1,680 population samples of which include 1,513 Students, 140 Academic staffs, and 27 Academic Librarians. Probability (Stratified random and systematic) sampling and nonprobability (purposive) sampling methods were adopted. Two sample frames were used: Students - classified into subgroups (Level) in each selected study centers and Academic staff - classified into subgroups (academic staff/academic librarian). Online (Google form) self-administered closed-ended questionnaire was sent to participants’ email. Data collected were analyzed through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). This finding revealed that electronic journals and electronic books are readily available in the NOUN library. Academic staff most likely, interact with the library staff or visit the library to be aware of library electronic resources, however, the students struggled to be aware through personal efforts. NOUN library creates awareness through the email and notice boards. The academic staff and students access and use the library electronic resources for various multidimensional purposes, however, there is a low patronage of these electronic resources by academic staff and students as less than 40% of academic staff and students access and use the library electronic resources. Electricity outage, low internet connectivity speed and high cost of access to internet were presented as challenges encountered while accessing and using electronic resources. Recommendations: the library management should develop awareness programmes that is appropriate for an ODL university community through the use of modern communication tools, and emphasy should be on the use of electronic resources in the university curriculum. / Information Science

Είναι γνωστό από τη Θεωρία της Πληροφορίας, πως η δειγματοληψία σημάτων ακολουθεί το Θεώρημα των Shannon-Nyquist. Σύμφωνα με το θεώρημα αυτό, για την εκτέλεση της δειγματοληψίας ενός σήματος χωρίς απώλεια πληροφορίας, ο ρυθμός δειγματοληψίας αυτού θα πρέπει να είναι τουλάχιστον δύο φορές μεγαλύτερος από τη μεγαλύτερη συχνότητα που εμφανίζεται στο φάσμα του σήματος. Αυτή τη θεωρία κατάφερε – κατά κάποιο τρόπο - να ανατρέψει το 2006 μια νέα, αυτή της Συμπιεσμένης Καταγραφής που ξεκίνησε από δύο επιστημονικές εργασίες των Donoho, Candes, Romberg και Tao και η οποία έρχεται να αλλάξει τα έως σήμερα δεδομένα. Σήμερα, λίγα έτη αργότερα, μια αφθονία θεωρητικών πτυχών της συμπιεσμένης καταγραφής εξερευνάται ήδη σε περισσότερες από 1000 δημοσιεύσεις. Οι εφαρμογές αυτής της τεχνικής εκτείνονται και σε άλλα πεδία όπως η επεξεργασία εικόνας, η μαγνητική τομογραφία, η ανάλυση γεωφυσικών δεδομένων, η επεξεργασία εικόνας radar, η αστρονομία κ.α. Η μέθοδος της συμπιεσμένης καταγραφής ή αλλιώς Compressed Sensing ή Compressed Sampling, όπως αυτή είναι γνωστή στη βιβλιογραφία, στηρίζεται στη δυνατότητα ανακατασκευής αραιών σημάτων από πλήθος δειγμάτων αισθητά κατώτερο από αυτό που προβλέπει το θεωρητικό όριο του Nyquist. Έχει αποδειχθεί ότι, η ανακατασκευή αυτή είναι δυνατή όταν το σήμα ή έστω κάποιος μετασχηματισμός του περιέχει λίγα μη μηδενικά στοιχεία σε σχέση με το μήκος του. Στα πλαίσια αυτής της εργασίας παρουσιάζονται οι βασικές αρχές που διέπουν την ανακατασκευή αραιών σημάτων μέσω της επίλυσης υπο-ορισμένων συστημάτων γραμμικών εξισώσεων. Στη συγκεκριμένη εργασία, γίνεται μία προσπάθεια εφαρμογής της εν λόγω μεθόδου στα ανερχόμενα Cognitive Radio δίκτυα (Cognitive Radio Networks - CRN) τα οποία εμφανίζουν την ιδιότητα Spectrum Sharing. Σύμφωνα με αυτή την ιδιότητα, δηλαδή, το διαμοιρασμό του διαθέσιμου φάσματος, ο πρωταρχικός στόχος, είναι η ανίχνευση και η αναγνώριση των λεγόμενων spectrum holes σε ασύρματο περιβάλλον. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, παρουσιάζεται μια Distributed (κατανεμημένη) προσέγγιση συμπιεσμένης καταγραφής φάσματος για (τα ultra-) Wideband Cognitive Radio δίκτυα. Η τεχνική Compressed Sensing εφαρμόζεται σε τοπικά CRs του δικτύου, προκειμένου να ανιχνεύσει το υπερ-ευρύ φάσμα (ultra-wideband) με ρεαλιστική πολυπλοκότητα ανάκτησης του αρχικού σήματος. Οι φασματικές εκτιμήσεις από πολλαπλούς τοπικούς CRs του δικτύου «συνενώνονται» για να αποκομίσουν το χωρικό κέρδος ποικιλομορφίας (spatial diversity gain), το οποίο όσο αυξάνεται, βελτιώνει την ποιότητα ανίχνευσης, ειδικά στην περίπτωση των υπό εξασθένιση καναλιών (channel fading effect). Αρχικά, μελετάται ένας κατανεμημένος αλγόριθμος πλειοψηφίας (Distributed Consensus Algorithm) για να επιτευχθεί η συνεργασία κατά το στάδιο της ανίχνευσης της πληροφορίας που μεταφέρεται στο δίκτυο και έπειτα η αποστολή αυτής σε ένα fusion center. Αυτού του είδους ο distributed αλγόριθμος που χρησιμοποιεί μόνο one-hop επικοινωνία, συγκλίνει γρήγορα σε συνολικά βέλτιστες λύσεις που λειτουργούν με χαμηλό φόρτο επικοινωνίας και υπολογισμού που είναι ανάλογο του μεγέθους του δικτύου. Ένα σενάριο που εξετάζεται στο πλαίσιο αυτής της εργασίας, είναι η συγκεντρωτική ανίχνευση φάσματος ευρείας ζώνης με επικαλυπτόμενες συχνότητες ή αλλιώς κανάλια που είναι κοινά (frequency overlapping) σε Cognitive Radio δίκτυα και τα οποία, χρησιμοποιούν την τεχνική Compressed Sensing καθώς επίσης και την από κοινού ανακατασκευή (Joint Reconstruction) του αρχικού σήματος. Τέλος, προτείνεται ένα σενάριο, μιας κατανεμημένης αυτή τη φορά, τεχνικής ανίχνευσης φάσματος, που βασίζεται σε κανόνες πλειοψηφίας. Τα αποτελέσματα της προσομοίωσης, σε περιβάλλον Matlab, επιβεβαιώνουν την αποτελεσματικότητα αυτής της προτεινόμενης προσέγγισης, δηλαδή την ανίχνευση φάσματος, από συνδυασμό Cognitive Radio δικτύων με αραιά επικαλυπτόμενες συχνότητες. / It is well known from Information Theory, that the sampling of signals should be performed as dictated by the celebrated Shannon – Nyquist theorem. According to this theorem, in order to fully recover a signal from its samples, it must be sampled at a sampling rate that should be at least twice the bandwidth of the signal. This theory has been significantly extended over the past few years by the advent of the so-called Compressed Sensing theory, which first appeared in seminal scientific articles of Donoho, Candes, Romberg and Tao in 2006. Nowadays, an abundance of theoretical aspects of compressed sensing is already explored in more than 1000 articles. Τhis technique has been applied in various fields such as image processing, magnetic tomography, analysis of geophysical data, radar image processing, astronomy etc. The method of Compressed Sensing, also known as Compressed Sampling, is related to the reconstruction of sparse signals from far fewer samples or measurements than what the theoretical limit of Nyquist suggests. It has been proved that, this reconstruction is possible when the signal or a transformation of it, contains just a few non-zero elements with respect to its length. In this work, we firstly summarize the basic principles that condition the reconstruction of sparse signals via the solution of underdetermined systems of linear equations. Next, in this Master Thesis we aim at implementing Compressed Sensing method in emerging Cognitive Radio (CR) networks with spectrum sharing. The first cognitive task preceding any dynamic spectrum access is the sensing and identification of spectral holes in wireless environments. In more detail, this work is mainly concerned with a distributed compressed spectrum sensing approach for (ultra-)wideband CR networks. Compressed sensing is performed at local CRs to scan the very wide spectrum at practical signal-acquisition complexity. Meanwhile, spectral estimates from multiple local CR detectors are fused to collect spatial diversity gain, which improves the sensing quality especially under fading channels. Initially, a distributed consensus algorithm is analyzed for collaborative sensing and fusion in a scenario where all nodes are estimating the same spectral bands. Using only one-hop local communications, this distributed algorithm converges fast to the globally optimal solutions, at low communication and computation load scalable to the network size. Another scenario that has been investigated in this thesis is the joint wideband spectrum sensing in frequency overlapping cognitive radio networks, using centralized compressive sensing techniques. Finally, for the latter scenario, a distributed compressive sensing technique, based on consensus, has been proposed. Simulation results in Matlab environment verify the effectiveness of proposed joint spectrum sensing approach in jointly sparse frequency overlapping cognitive radio networks.

Intresset för sömlösa stålrör med stora ytterdiametrar i förhållande till tunna väggtjocklekar har ökat tillsammans med att högre hållfasthet i olika stålsorter tillkommit. Detta gör det möjligt att tillverka lättare, billigare och mer materialeffektiva stålprodukter med samma eller högre hållfasthet som tidigare. Denna nya utvecklingsriktning medför förändringar och utmaningar i en av företaget Ovakos produktionslinor i Rörverk 5 Hofors, vilket de har behov av att samarbeta med maskinkonstruktionsföretaget BEKAB för att utvärdera och utveckla. I Ovakos produktionslina i Rörverk 5 finns en del av ett asselvalsverk som kallas för "förreducerare". Denna del av asselvalsverket ser Ovako ett stort intresse i att utvärdera och utveckla för att bättre anpassas till den nya utvecklingsriktningen.  En känd utmaning hos förreduceraren sen tidigare är att den från början är framtagen för att reducera ner ett kvalitetsproblem hos rörprodukterna som kallas för trattbildning. Projektet fördjupar sig därför inom trattbildning för att bättre förstå grunden till förreducerarens nuvarande design för att därefter genomföra en redesign av förreduceraren. I en nulägesanalys av nuvarande förreducerare framkommer ett flertal olika produktionsutrustningsproblem med tillhörande kvalitetsproblem hos rörprodukterna. Projektet väljer därmed att fokusera på de produktionsutrustningsproblem som ger störst effekt för förreduceraren om de löstes. Detta resulterar i ett nytt produktkoncept av förreduceraren i form av en visuell 3D-CAD-modell med tillhörande hållfasthetsberäkningar och materialoptimering. Studien behandlar ämnen som design, konstruktion, produktutveckling, hållfasthet samt materialoptimering. / The interest in seamless steel tubes with large outside diameters in relation to thin wall thickness has increased along with the strength improvements in various steel grades. This makes it possible to produce lighter, cheaper and more material-efficient steel products with the same or greater strength as before. These new development directions bring changes and challenges in one of the company Ovako's production lines in Tube Mill 5 Hofors, which they need to cooperate with the design agency BEKAB to evaluate and develop. In Ovako's production line in Tube Mill 5 there is a part of an assel mill called "förreducerare". Ovako sees a lot of interest in evaluating and developing this part of the assel mill in order to better adapt to the new development directions. A well-known challenge of the existing reduction equipment is that it was initially developed to reduce a quality issue with the tube products called funnel formation. The project therefore immerses itself into the funnel formation in order to better understand the foundations of the current design of the reduction equipment and to then implement a redesign of the reduction equipment. A situation analysis of the current reduction equipment reveals a number of different production issues with their accompanying quality issues in the tube products. The project thus chooses to focus on the production issues that would have the greatest impact on the reduction equipment if they were resolved. This results in a new product concept of the reduction equipment in the form of a visual 3D-CAD-model with associated strength calculations and material optimization. The study covers topics such as design, engineering, product development, material strength calculations and material optimization.

Since the publication of Dr. Johnson’s first English dictionary in 1755, there have been rapid changes in the development of dictionaries in other parts of the world. However, the advances are perceived more in other languages of the world such as the European languages while in Africa, the changes have been very slow. The majority of dictionaries utilised by most Africans are bilingual and were produced by the missionaries. These dictionaries were aimed at serving the needs of the missionaries, but more recently African scholars have been trying to create dictionaries that are intended to meet the needs of the native speakers particularly because the existing dictionaries contain many words which are archaic or going out of use. This means that the currently produced dictionaries should reflect the changes that have occurred in languages and society. The two dictionaries under scrutiny, Sesuto-English Dictionary and Sethantšo sa Sesotho, share similar content as if they were both targeting the same generation even though the former was written by missionaries in the 19th century while the latter was created by a Sesotho native speaker in the 21st century. This study aimed to establish whether the two dictionaries are the same or not, or whether Sethantšo sa Sesotho had been derived from Sesuto-English Dictionary as well as whether the two dictionaries meet the needs of the contemporary users. The study employed adaptation theory in order to discover the originality of Sethantšo sa Sesotho. User-perspective approach and communication-oriented function were utilised to judge the effectiveness of the two dictionaries in reading and writing and to analyse users’ views. The study established that Sethantšo sa Sesotho has adapted 69% lexical items from Sesuto-English Dictionary; words are arranged in a similar order in both dictionaries with slight differences here and there; most definitions and illustrative phrases/sentences are the same even though the author of Sethantšo sa Sesotho did not acknowledge using any written source of information, thus violating the principles of adaptation; use of these dictionaries during reading and writing was found to be beneficial to users; and both dictionaries lack current words which users encounter daily. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil.(African Languages)

Academic libraries are an integral part of higher educational institutions in Nigeria in order for them to achieve their mission of national development. Knowledge sharing has become a survival kit for academic libraries to improve service provision and remain relevant in today’s information world. This study explores the roles of knowledge sharing among staff at the Delta State University (DELSU) library, Abraka for improved service provision and also suggests strategies to enhance knowledge sharing among staff for improved service provision. The theory of organisational knowledge creation (SECI) and the Social Exchange Theory (SET) underpinned this study. The study adopted a mixed method research approach and case study research design. While questionnaires were the main data collection instruments, interviews were the supplementary instruments. The entire staff at the DELSU library, Abraka was the target population for this study. A census was taken on the entire staff of the library to collect data using the questionnaires while the heads of the different library sections were purposively sampled for the collection of data through interviews. The quantitative data collected using questionnaires was analysed with the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software and the results were presented in tables and simple descriptive statistics. The interview data was analysed and interpreted using thematic analysis and was presented in predetermined themes according to the research objectives. A total of 60 out of the 63 copies of the questionnaire administered were retrieved and interviews were conducted on all seven participants sampled. The study revealed that knowledge sharing among staff members play an important role in improving service provision in the library in terms of the provision of accurate and in time services, learning best library practices, avoidance of mistake repetition and solving problems encountered on the job. However, knowledge sharing is not formalised in the library. Therefore, effective knowledge sharing for service provision has not been achieved. The greatest barriers to knowledge sharing for improved service provision in the library are the lack of a knowledge sharing culture, information and communication technological tools and infrastructures and motivation as well as the inferiority and superiority complex among staff. The greatest motivation for the library staff to share knowledge is to improve service provision. The study suggests strategies to encourage knowledge sharing among the staff members in order to improve service provision. These strategies include an adequate reward system, as well as a continuous awareness and appraisal of knowledge sharing. / Information Science / M. Inf.