Socioscientific argumentation has shown to be a feasible educational framework for promoting citizenship and for cultivating scientific literacy. However, there are several aspects of this educational framework that have been shown to be problematic. Consequently, in this thesis I investigated various aspects of quality of socioscientific argumentation from both an upper secondary student and a teacher perspective. By using students’ written argumentation on socioscientific issues (SSI) I studied how they justified their claims. The results showed that different SSI led students to use different subject areas in their justifications. I also compared science majors with social science majors and found that the number of justifications provided by the students is related to their discipline background. In these two studies, a new content focused analytical framework for analyzing content aspects of socioscientific argumentation, the SEE-SEP model, was used and shown to be suitable for this purpose. However, to ensure that students are able to produce high-quality arguments I suggest that both content and structural aspects need to be considered. As a result of this, I have presented a framework based on research literature and the Swedish curriculum, for analyzing and assessing both these aspects of socioscientific argumentation. Moreover, I investigated how science and language teachers assess students’ socioscientific argumentation and found that the science teachers focused on students’ ability to reproduce content knowledge, whereas language teachers focused on students’ ability to use content knowledge from references, and the structural and linguistic aspects of argumentation.   The complexity of teaching socioscientific argumentation makes it difficult to teach and assess comprehensively. In order to promote quality and include both content and structural aspects, I suggest that a co-operation among teachers of different disciplines is beneficial. / Socioscientific argumentation has shown to be a feasible educational framework for promoting citizenship and scientific literacy. In this thesis I investigated various aspects of quality of students socioscientific argumentation and how teachers assess this. The results showed that different SSI led students to use different subject areas in their justifications and that the number of justifications provided by the students is related to their discipline background. Moreover, to promote students high-quality arguments I have presented a framework for analyzing and assessing both content and structural aspects. I also investigated how science and language teachers assess students’ socioscientific argumentation and found that the science teachers focused on students’ ability to reproduce content knowledge, whereas language teachers focused on students’ ability to use content knowledge from references, and the structural and linguistic aspects of argumentation. The complexity of teaching socioscientific argumentation makes it difficult to teach and assess comprehensively. In order to promote quality and include both content and structural aspects, I suggest that a co-operation among teachers of different disciplines is beneficial. / <p>Article IV was in manuscript form at the time of the thesis defense and has been published afterwards.</p>

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We formulate a process of quantization of classical mechanics, from a symplecticperspective. The Dirac quantization axioms are stated, and a satisfactory prequantizationmap is constructed using a complex line bundle. Using polarization, it isdetermined which prequantum states and observables can be fully quantized. Themathematical concepts of symplectic geometry, fibre bundles, and distributions are exposedto the degree to which they occur in the quantization process. Quantizationsof a cotangent bundle and a sphere are described, using real and K¨ahler polarizations,respectively.

The nuclear envelope forms the interface between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. The nuclear envelope consists of the two concentric lipid membranes, the nuclear pores and the nuclear lamina. The inner nuclear membrane contains hundreds of unique transmembrane proteins showing high tissue diversity. Mutations of some proteins in the nuclear envelope give rise to a broad spectrum of diseases called envelopathies or laminopathies. In this thesis, I aimed to study the functional organization of the nuclear envelope by identifying and characterizing interactions between the nuclear envelope proteins. For this, we developed a novel method called the Membrane Protein Crosslink Immuno-Precipitation, which enable identification of protein-protein interactions in the nuclear envelope in live cells. We identified several novel interactions of the inner nuclear membrane protein, Samp1, and studied the interaction between the Samp1 and the nuclear GTPase, Ran in detail. Samp1 can bind to Ran and is thus the first known transmembrane Ran binding protein and Samp1 might provide a local binding site for Ran in the inner nuclear membrane. We found that Samp1 also binds to the inner nuclear membrane protein, Emerin and Ran can regulate the Samp1-Emerin interaction in the nuclear envelope. During mitosis, Samp1 distributes in the mitotic spindle. Therefore, we investigated a possible functional role of Samp1 in the mitotic machinery. Samp1 depletion resulted in aneuploid phenotypes, metaphase prolongation and decreased distribution of γ-tubulin and β-tubulin in the mitotic spindle. We found that Samp1 can bind to γ-tubulin, which is essential for the microtubule nucleation and hence for the spindle stability. The new interesting features of Samp1 provide insights on the unforeseen functions of the nuclear envelope proteins. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

The purpose of the study is to investigate what preschool teachers associate with the subject of biology. The purpose is also to investigate how preschool teachers work with the subject of biology. The method semi structured interviews were done with six teachers in two different preschools in Sweden. The method was inspired by grounded theory. The interviews were recorded on a smartphone using a recording-app and then it was written down on a document. The results of this study are that teachers do work with biology in the preschool but they think they might do it unconsciously. The results show how the teachers are working with animals, plants, the human body and natural cycle. They read, sing and paint animals. The teachers really listen to the children’s questions and plan the work by their questions and thoughts. This study is relevant for preschool-teachers because the examples are from preschoolteachers on how you can work with biology. The results also show that the teachers associate biology with animals, plants, the human body and natural cycle but also that they think about the difficulty with the subject. / Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad förskollärare förknippar med ämnet biologi och vad de anser om att arbeta med ämnet biologi i förskolan. I studien användes individuella semistrukturerade intervjuer. Sex stycken förskollärare från två olika förskolor i Sverige intervjuades. Metoden var inspirerad av den så kallade grounded theory. Intervjuer genomfördes i två olika omgångar. Syftet med intervjuerna i första omgången var att ställa öppna frågor kring biologi för att sedan i andra omgången ställa specifika frågor för att få mer utvecklade svar. Intervjuerna spelades in på en smarttelefon med hjälp av en inspelnings-app för att sedan dokumenteras skriftligt. Resultatet visar att pedagogerna förknippar biologi med djur, växter, kretslopp och människokroppen och att de arbetar med biologi främst genom att till exempel läsa, sjunga och måla djur tillsammans med barnen. Resultatet visar på svårigheterna med ämnet men också på att pedagogerna tror sig arbeta med biologi omedvetet. Denna studie är relevant för förskollärare då exempel på hur man kan arbeta med biologi kommer från förskollärare.

Att använda sig av viltkameror är ett bra verktyg vid inventering av djur, speciellt för skygga arter som till exempel lodjur. I Sverige baseras lodjursinventering genom spårning i snö, men då varmare vintrar har gjort det svårt kan inventering genom viltkameror ersätta denna metod. I denna studie har 165 kamerapositioner från mellersta Sverige undersökts. Syftet med studien var att se om någon av faktorerna; väg, avverkad skog, blockmark, byggnader, tidigare spårningar, doftstation samt kadaver hade något samband med att fånga lodjursbesök på foto/film, då detta kan ge bättre och effektivare metoder vid lodjursinventering. Koordinaterna över de olika kamerapositionerna har lagts in i ett GIS-program. Utifrån olika buffertzoner runt varje kameraposition, 50 - 500 meter i radie har de olika faktorerna kunnat urskiljas, det vill säga om faktorn fanns eller inte fanns inom kameraområdet. Doftstation samt kadaver var redan en fast faktor för vissa kamerapositioner. Studien visar att det finns ett samband mellan lodjursbesök och doftstation (Chi2 6,606; P&lt;0,05), med större sannolikhet att få ett lodjursbesök vid en kameraplats med doftstation än utan (figur 5). Resultatet visar vikten i att använda sig av lockmedel då syftet är att fånga lodjur på foto eller film, då detta ökar chansen att lodjuret går framför kameran och bilden tas. Resterande faktorer verkar inte ha en påverkan i att få lodjursbesök på bild.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain how preschool teachers think the subject of physics is shown in the preschool environment. A comparison was also conducted to see if there was any difference between the preschool teachers view of working with physics depending on when they were educated.   The study was conducted in the form of qualitative semi-structured interviews with active preschool teachers. The interviews were conducted in a calm environment and there was no disturbances. The interviews were used as a foundation to see if the preschool teachers thought they had sufficient knowledge in physics to be able to complete their work. A comparison was made between two newly graduated preschool teachers and two preschool teachers educated in the 1990s.   The results show that the preschool teachers think physics is an interesting subject, but they don’t work with it sufficiently. They believe the reason for that this is insufficient material, lack of time, conflicting colleagues and ignorance.

Sedan början av 1980-talet har Sverige haft Europas största flyktinginvandring per capita. Den ökade invandringen har lett till stor inverkan på den svenska skolan. I varje skola och varje klass sitter några som har utländsk bakgrund och ett annat modersmål än svenska. Därför krävs ändrade förutsättningar i klasserna. Läraren, skolpolitiker och skolledaren behöver diskutera djupare och förbereda nya undervisningsmetoder, förhållningssätt, lämplig pedagogik etc. Det kräver ett tydliggörande av vilka faktorer som är betydelsefulla i språkinlärningen av andraspråkselever och hur lärarna kan anpassa sin undervisning till elevens behov och svårigheter. I denna uppsats granskas problemen för andraspråkselever i undervisningen av biologiämnet på gymnasieskolan. Genom en enkätundersökning lyfts problem och hinder som både lärare och andraspråkselever står inför i undervisningen av biologi-/naturkunskapsämnet. En gynnsam relation med elever, anpassade undervisningmetoder och kravet på ett bedömningssystem som inte bara är baserat på svenska språket, är sådan professionell hjälp som påverkar andraspråkselevers studieframgång. Elevernas svårigheter i biologi-/naturkunskapsämnet, vilket är ett begreppsbaserat ämne, visar hur språkförståelse påverkar elevernas prestation och frånvaro. Biologiämnet innebär både praktiska undersökningar och en teoretisk del. Analysen av resultatet i de två delarna och av resultaten i fråga om elevernas delaktighet, visar att brister i språket begränsar deras studieframgång och ökar andraspråkselevers frånvaro. Dessutom visar analysen att praktiska undersökningar och ett väl planerat grupparbete kan motivera andraspråkselever i utvecklingen av kunskaper och förbättring i skolresultat. Därtill spelar en trygg miljö i skolan och klassrummet en stor roll för att höja intresse och motivation hos andraspråkselever inför vidare studier samt ger en minskning i långvarig frånvaro. Andraspråkselevers framtid, kultur och kunskap är knutna till framtiden för Sverige, och deras aktiviteter kan senare ha både positiv och negativ påverkan på samhället. Brist i språkkunskap utestänger människor med utländsk bakgrund från den svenska arbetsmarknaden. Svårigheten att komma in på arbetsmarknaden leder till att deras barn presterar sämre i skolan och får därmed svårt att komma in på arbetsmarknaden senare. Med hjälp av högre utbildning och utveckling av deras tankar, insikter och kunskaper kan vi skapa ett bättre samhälle, med en blandning av olika kulturer.

Artigos científicos são o principal mecanismo que pesquisadores usam para reportar suas descobertas científicas, e uma coleção de artigos em uma área de pesquisa pode revelar muito sobre sua evolução ao longo do tempo, como a emergência de novos tópicos e a evolução dos mesmos quanto ao seu conteúdo. No entanto, dada uma ampla coleção de artigos é geralmente muito difícil extrair informações importantes que possam ajudar leitores a interpretar globalmente, navegar e então eventualmente focar em itens relevantes para sua tarefa. Mapas de documentos baseados em conteúdo são representações visuais criadas para avaliar a similaridade entre documentos, e têm se mostrado úteis em auxiliar tarefas exploratórias neste cenário. Documentos são representados por marcadores visuais projetados em um espaço bidimensional de forma que documentos com conteúdo similar permaneçam próximos. Apesar de estes mapas permitirem a identificação visual de grupos de documentos relacionados e de fronteiras entre esses grupos, eles não transmitem explicitamente a evolução temporal de uma coleção. Nesta tese, propomos e validamos um mapa de documentos dinâmico interativo para coleções de artigos científicos capaz de evidenciar o comportamento temporal para apoiar tarefas de análise, preservando ao mesmo tempo a acurácia local do mapa e o contexto do usuário. As mudanças nas relações de similaridade, evidenciadas ao longo do tempo nesse mapa, oferecem suporte para detecção da evolução temporal dos tópicos. Essa evolução é caracterizada por meio de eventos de transição entre grupos, como a emergência de novos grupos e tópicos em momentos específicos e a especialização de um grupo, e pela detecção de mudanças no vocabulário dos tópicos, utilizando técnicas que extraem os termos mais relevantes (tópicos) em cada grupo, em diferentes momentos / Scientific articles are the major mechanism used by researchers to report their scientific results, and a collection of articles in a research area can reveal a lot about its evolution over time, such as the emergence of new topics and changes in topic vocabulary. However, given a broad collection of articles it is usually very difficult to extract important information that can help readers to globally interpret, navigate and then eventually focus on subjects relevant to their task. Document maps based on content are visual representations created to convey the similarity between documents, and have proven to be useful in helping users conducting exploratory tasks in this scenario. Documents are represented by graphical markers projected onto a two-dimensional space so that documents similar in content remain close. Although these maps allow visual identification of groups of related documents and boundaries between these groups, they do not explicitly convey the temporal evolution of a collection. In this thesis, we propose and validate a dynamic document map for collections of scientific articles capable of showing the temporal behavior to support analysis tasks, while simultaneously preserving the local accuracy of the map and the user global context. Changes in the similarity relationships, evidenced over time in this map, support the detection of the temporal evolution of topics. This evolution is characterized by transition events between groups such as the emergence of new groups and topics at specific moments and the specialization of a group, as well by detecting changes in the vocabulary of topics, using techniques that extract the most relevant terms (topics) in each group, at different times

The waves traveling on the surface of the world’s oceans carry atremendous amount of energy. The ability to convert this energy forhuman use has the potential to help solves the worlds energy problem. Adirect-drive linear generator point absorber is a wave energy converter(WEC) that aims to reduce the complexity of the overall system andshelter the most vulnerable parts of the system by placing them on theseabed. This concept builds around the buoy moving up and down indifferent sea-states which leads to a correlating vertical movement of thestroke in the generator resulting in the conversion of mechanical energyto power. This report aims to explore the possibility to use the open codeWEC-Sim to model the Uppsala University direct-drive linear generatorWEC in extreme sea states and to identify the resulting extreme loads. Theconstructed WEC-Sim model constrained the buoys motion in heave andsurge and limited its range of motion by modeling the generators upperend-stop spring. Simulations were run for different sea-states and theresulting forces on the system were analyzed. The peak line force for thedifferent sea states was calculated and compared to previous studies. Theresults validated the model as they showed a good correlation for mostsea-states. It was only for larger significant wave heights that there was adivergence compared to the results in previous studies.