To extend the use of computational techniques like finite element analysis to clinical settings, it would be beneficial to have the ability to generate a unique model for every subject quickly and efficiently. To this end, we previously developed two mapped meshing tools that utilized force and displacement control to map a template mesh to a subject-specific surface. This work is an extension of those methods; the objective of this study was to map a template block structure, common to multi-block meshing techniques, to a subject-specific surface. The rationale was that the blocks are considerably less refined and may be readily edited, thereby yielding a mesh of high quality in less time than mapping the mesh itself. In this paper, the versatility and robustness of the method was verified by processing four datasets. The method was found to be robust enough to cope with the variability of bony surface size, spatial position and geometry, producing building block structures that generated meshes comparable to those produced using building block structures that were created manually.

Denna studie gjordes för att få mer kunskap om hur området energi behandlas i svenska läroböcker i NO för mellanstadiet. Teorin utgår från tidigare forskning om olika aspekter av undervisning och lärande om energi, samt om olika kunskapsemfaser i undervisningen. Studien är således en deduktiv läromedelsanalys. Resultatet visar att det abstrakta begreppet energi vanligen beskrivs genom metaforer, vilka används för att underlätta steget mellan vardagliga föreställningar och vetenskapliga begrepp. En sak som också framgår är att läroböckerna utöver faktakunskaper även tar upp sådant som naturvetenskapens vägar till kunskap och dess plats i samhället. / This study was conducted in order to get more knowledge about how the area of energy is treated in Swedish science textbooks for grades 4-6. The theory is based on previous research on different aspects of teaching and learning about energy and different curriculum emphases in education. The study is, therefore, a deductive analysis of teaching material. The result shows that the abstract concept energy is often described through metaphors, which are used to facilitate the step between everyday conceptions and scientific concepts. Apart from targeting factual knowledge, the textbooks also bring up themes like the process of how scientific knowledge is formed, and the role of science in society.

The aim with this essay is to analyze subject-specific concepts in three textbooks for chemistry for the chapter air. The study will examine how these subject-specific concepts are distributed and how they are represented. The representations used are analogy and metaphor, example, relation and nothing used. The following questions were studied and answered. - Which subject specific concepts are used? - In which frequency does the subject specific content appear? - How are these subject specific concepts used and presented in the text (with analogies, metaphors, examples or relation)? In order to answer the questions for the thesis and to fulfil the aim for this study, a quantitative analysis was done and used as a method. The gathered material was analyzed with Vygotskijs theory of development of concepts. Analysis was made in depth for the subject specific contents that were found in the chapter of air in all three textbooks; which were atmosphere, helium, nitrogen, air pressure, and oxygen. The frequencies of subject specific concepts align with Lindbergs theory (the margin of the amount of unknown words in textbooks has to be 5%) but does not align with Hipkiss theory (2%). Textbook “Utkik” has highest frequency of 4,5%, “PULS” 3,8% and “Boken om Fysik och Kemi” 3,1%. In textbook “Utkik” the most used representation of the common subject specific contents was “relation” with 35%. In textbooks “PULS” and “Boken om Fysik och Kemi”, the most occurring representation was “analogy and metaphor” with 100 % respectively 67%. The results show that the subject specific concepts used in each book were mostly different. The textbooks differ in information and the students will miss out on some knowledge depending upon which book that is studied in the classroom. The essay shows that there is a correlation between earlier studies such as Lindberg (et al. 2007), that in order to improve knowledge of the subject specific concepts, it is crucial to use representations such as “analogy and metaphor”. It is also evident that the teacher has a responsibility to evaluate the textbooks and, in some cases, complement the subject specific concepts in order to increase the students’ knowledge ability in natural science such as chemistry.

The computational musculoskeletal models that are used to study muscle moment-generating capacities of persons with movement disorders and planning treatment options must be accurate, and take into account the inter-individual variability of musculoskeletal geometry. In Paper I the methods of creating the subject-specific musculoskeletal model of the lower extremities from magnetic resonance images (MRIs) were developed. The subject-specific model was used to analyze hip, knee and ankle muscle moment arms (MALs) and muscle-tendon lengths (MTLs) during gait in a subject with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP), and to evaluate the accuracy of widespread and commonly-used scaled generic model. It was found that the scaled generic model delivered accurate values for changes in MTLs in most muscles. However, the scaled generic and the subject-specific lower extremity musculoskeletal models showed substantial differences in MALs calculated during gait. In Paper II subject-specific musculoskeletal models of nine subjects with unilateral CP were created to study muscles volumes, MTLs and MALs; and to examine the accuracy of MALs calculated by the scaled generic models. It was shown that the scaled generic model significantly underestimated hip MALs discrepancies between the affected and the non-affected sides of the lower extremities. However, it significantly overestimated hip adduction/abduction of gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, tensor fascia latae and biceps femoris long head; and hip flexion of adductor longus and rectus femoris in the affected and the non-affected sides. It was also found that muscle volumes and hip abduction MALs in gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, hip flexion MALs in iliacus and hip rotation in gluteus maximus were smaller in the affected side of lower extremities. MTLs in the affected and the non-affected sides throughout the range of hip motion were similar. This thesis suggests the need for the subject-specific musculoskeletal models that can account for variability of muscle attachments and musculoskeletal geometry of persons with movement disorders. Based on inaccuracies of the scaled generic model reported here, the generic models that are used to guide treatment decisions must be tested, and interpreted with care. / QC 20110901

This licentiate thesis investigates teachers’ and students’ cognitions of bilingual subject-specific literacies. The thesis builds on three different studies, referred to as case studies, conducted in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) study programmes in the Swedish upper secondary school. Participants’ views and experiences of two languages of schooling, English and Swedish, were elicited in interviews, and analysed thematically. To gain understanding of the three studies in combination, a further analytical framework was developed and tested. In this analysis, participants’ descriptions, explanations and reflections on teaching and learning curriculum content bilingually emerged as three-dimensional discourses. In the first study, new and experienced teachers’ challenges and strategies were in focus. The biology and civics teachers, who were new teachers, and new to CLIL, found teaching through the second language of schooling, English, time-consuming and demanding. They expressed concern about limited communication and learning in the classroom. The mathematics teachers, who had long teaching experience, and of teaching in the CLIL programme, had developed strategies to meet perceived challenges, for example, they had designed parts of lessons in a monolingual mode, and parts of lessons in a bilingual mode. The second study explored intermediate CLIL teachers’ rationales for language choice in teaching. The biology and history teachers found that access to English, as afforded through the CLIL framework, coincided well with the new syllabi for their school subjects. For instance, the history teachers could use web-based study materials in English in class, and found teaching and learning more authentic than in the mainstream, Swedish-speaking, study programmes. The biology teachers mentioned that access to English terminology facilitated the teaching and learning of complex subject-specific content areas. It functioned as a potential source to enhance students’ understanding. The third study documented students ́cognitionsof CLIL. The views of upper secondary students studying curriculum content through English were overall positive. However, results showed that their experiences of CLIL varied with school subject. Whereas studying mathematics through English was reported to be conducive to learning and understanding, learning civics through English only, or trying to listen to lectures in civics, where teachers would change languages seemingly without a rationale, were perceived as less conducive to learning. / <p>At the time of the licentiate defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: In press.</p> / Content and Language Integration in Swedish Schools (CLISS)

It is estimated that approximately 10-12% of the adult population suffers from osteoarthritis (OA), with long reaching burdens personally and socioeconomically. OA also causes mild discomfort to severe pain in those suffering from the disease. The incidence rate of OA for individuals with transtibial amputations is much than average in the tibiofemoral joint (TF). It is well understood that abnormal articular cartilage stress, whether that be magnitude or location, increases the risk of developing OA. Finite element (FE) simulations can predict stress in the TF joint, many studies throughout the years have validated the technology used for this purpose. This thesis is the first to successfully validate a procedure for creating subject-specific FE models for transtibial amputees to simulate the TF joint in gait, cycling and elliptical exercises. Maximum tibial cartilage pressure was extracted post-simulation and compared to historical data. The body weight normalized contact pressure on the tibial articular cartilage for the two amputee participants was larger in magnitude than the control participant in all but the medial compartment in cycling. Additionally, cycling exercise produced the smallest values of contact pressure with elliptical and gait producing similar max values but different areas of effect. The results from this thesis align with the body of work preceding it and further the goal of a FE model that predicts in-vivo articular cartilage stress in the TF joint. Future studies can further refine this methodology and create additional subject-specific models to allow for a statistical analysis of the observed differences to find if the results are significantly different. Refining the methodology could include investigating the full effect of the damping factor on contact pressure and exploring alternative methods of mesh generation.

No description available.

Medial osteoarthritis (OA) and lateral OA have distinct characteristic cartilage lesion locations and knee flexion angles associated with lesion development. These types of OA are suggested to be caused by loading when the knee is in extension and mid-range flexion, respectively. This project used subject-specific finite element (FE) models to investigate contact conditions within the extended and flexed knee. A method of creating subject-specific FE models by combining geometry (derived from magnetic resonance imaging scans) and load cases (calculated from motion analysis data) collected from the same subject was developed. This model creation method was validated by comparing experimentally-measured pressure data to contact data calculated by FE models. Models of normal knees in three subjects were created first. Models with larger subject-specific loads had larger displacements and higher stresses and contact pressures. Contact occurred over most of the articulating cartilage surfaces, both in areas of typical cartilage lesions and outside areas of typical cartilage lesions. Parameters in the normal models were then altered to reflect three mechanical changes hypothesized to lead to OA: increased loading, globally decreased cartilage stiffness, and locally decreased cartilage stiffness. Increased loading led to increased displacements, stresses, and contact pressures. Contact shifted anteriorly in the extended knee models to locations of typical medial OA cartilage lesions; contact remained stationary with elevated stress magnitudes in the flexed knee models. Globally decreasing cartilage stiffness had limited effects on contact results. Locally decreased cartilage stiffness led to locally increased displacement and strain and locally decreased stress and contact pressure. Contact again shifted anteriorly in the extended knee models. Potential mechanisms of OA initiation were then proposed. Increased weight or locally decreased cartilage stiffness increased strains within the cartilage. High strains can damage the cartilage matrix fibres, further decreasing cartilage stiffness and eventually leading to cartilage lesions and OA.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has become an attractive tool in understanding the characteristic of air flow in the human lungs. Inter-subject variations make subject-specific simulations essential for understanding structure-function relationship, assessing lung function and improving drug delivery. However, currently the subject-specific CFD analysis remains challenging due, in large part to, two issues: construction of realistic deforming airway geometry and imposition of physiological boundary conditions. To address these two issues, we develop subject-specific, dynamic lung models by utilizing two or multiple volume multi-detector row computed tomography (MDCT) data sets and image registrations in this thesis. A mass-preserving nonrigid image registration algorithm is first proposed to match a pair of three-dimensional (3D) MDCT data sets with large deformations. A novel similarity criterion, the sum of squared tissue volume difference (SSTVD), is introduced to account for changes in intensity with lung inflation. We then demonstrate the ability to develop dynamic lung models by using a pair of lung volumes to account for deformations of airway geometries and subject-specific boundary conditions. The deformation of the airway geometry is derived by the registration-derived deformation field and subject-specific boundary condition is estimated from regional ventilation in a 3D and one-dimensional (1D) coupled multi-scale framework. Improved dynamic lung models are then proposed from three lung volumes by utilizing nonlinear interpolations. The improved lung models account for nonlinear geometry motions and time-varying boundary conditions during breathing. The capability of the proposed dynamic lung model is expected to move the CFD-based interrogation of lung function to the next plateau.

This thesis focuses on how different semiotic resources, such as spoken and written texts, artefacts and activities interact with classroom design and classroom communication in three school subjects in Swedish secondary school: Home and Consumer Studies, Biology and Chemistry. The research process has been concerned with the affordances that are created through different semiotic resources in classroom design and in classroom communication in the three school subjects, focusing on academic language and student participation. The study used an ethnographic approach, employing multiple methods for material production and analysis. Video and audio recordings formed the foundation for analysis. Material production also includes field notes, photographs and interviews with teachers and students. The research draws on sociocultural theory using a three-legged theoretical framework based in sociocultural theory. Basil Bernstein’s sociological theories were used as an overarching theory for understanding the results. The sociosemiotic theories of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Social Semiotic Multimodality were adopted for analyzing classroom design and classroom communication. This study shows that classroom design and classroom communication are tied together. Classroom design presents affordances for a subject’s ideational and interpersonal meaning. These affordances are reproduced in classroom communication. In classrooms with subject-focused design, classroom communication is school-focused. Learning is segmented without connection between school subjects or other contexts. In one classroom, designed to create relevance for both school and everyday knowledge, communication is both school-focused and also creates relevance for students’ use of the contents in other contexts. Learning in this classroom is cumulative and students’ participation and meaning-making is integrated in teaching and design. This study also shows how different semiotic resources influence teacher’s and students’ linguistic choices. Vertical discourse, i.e. abstract and distant academic language, is realised in written texts such as text books and whiteboard texts. Few other artefacts introduce and encourage participants’ vertical discourse. Teacher and student communication realises mainly horizontal discourse, i.e. context embedded everyday language. Classroom communication provides few opportunities for students to appropriate academic language through semantic waves, as academic language is only unpacked into everyday language and not repacked into academic language.