Nowadays, we have seen a tremendous improvement in technology, as stated by Almega.Se, (2021), the era of digitalization has helped many companies increase productivity, reduce costs, and expand to new markets. There has been a massive increase in start-ups, especially in the tech industry. This study will examine how Swedish tech start-ups grow their businesses and identify some of the biggest and most important challenges they face while growing. This thesis uses Greiner's (1998) “Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow” to explore organizations' strategies and challenges while expanding and growing their business. This study also uses other scientific articles related to Greiner’s model to support and update the model. The results of this study found the most common challenges that start-ups in the tech industry face but also suggested some strategies to overcome these challenges.  The authors of this study found that startups could use Greiner's (1998) model to get inspired and informed about challenges and strategies to grow, even though some changes have occurred as the tech industry has evolved dramatically. Challenges such as finding a skillful team that can contribute to the growing firm are not noted by Greiner's (1998) model or strategies related to heavy marketing. On the other hand, challenges such as delivering a complete product, and conflicts between upper and low levels of management are noticeable nowadays among start-ups.  Keywords: Startups, strategy, challenges, Growth, Tech industry, Greiner 1998 Model, II

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This study aims at understanding the impact of social media (SM) at the different early stages of a startup. The early stages are identified as the venture idea generation stage, defined as how an idea is born. Then followed by the venture opportunity development & exploitationstage, which consists of defining an incubation and evaluation phase. To answer this question, believing in a relativism and constructionist philosophical standpoint, the researchers conducted a qualitative study with an inductive analysis. Therefore, conducting nine interviews on entrepreneurs that have started their own businesses. It has been concluded that SM has an increasing influence over the activities of the early stages. While little to no SM was involvedin the venture idea generation, it had shown a stronger influence at the incubation and evaluation phase. In addition to those findings, the study identified enablers and hinders to SM usage. Lastly, contribution has been made to the entrepreneurship literature, by identifying a new phase to the venture opportunity development & exploitation stage, i.e., trustworthiness.

The world is facing a significant depletion of resources. By 2030, our demand will require more than double the resources we are consuming at the moment.  Sustainability is a way of safeguarding that our choices will not negatively impact future generation’s lives due to inadequate resource management. The main problem is that the authorities and the business world do not regard sustainability as a strategic-first business function, rather a collection of disparate solutions. The most crucial question in the discussion about sustainability is how designers, architects, engineers, creators of things, empower the new generations to live in a world of abundance (McDonough & Braungart 2008). It is up to every one of us to build a world that we want to inhabit. Although studies on sustainable innovation practices in large organizations have been located (Bro-Browers, 2010), there is limited academic literature on sustainability in start-ups.  The present thesis aims to show how leadership plays a central role in implementing the sustainability agenda and what traits and styles the CEOs of sustainable start-ups have to possess to drive organizations to success. In this case, success has been defined as the rate of investment attracted by the organization, participation in incubator and accelerator programs, prizes, and all the activities that advance the sustainability agenda.  In order to achieve the research purpose of this study, I conducted a critical literature review of the major leadership theories in the field, coupled with a qualitative research study involving semi-structured interviews administered to ten CEOs of start-ups that develop sustainable services or products. The results were conclusive. CEOs of successful sustainable start-ups displayed the following characteristics: visionary, empowering, tech-savvy, open, acting as coaches and mentors for their organizations, enablers of change, and problem-solvers par excellence. Compared to regular start-ups, the CEOs of sustainable start-ups want to positively impact the world by establishing systems that support the eradication of destructive practices. The business world could use this study’s results as a guide for start-ups and companies that activate in the field of sustainable innovation. Furthermore, it enriches the existing speciality literature since there is little written on leadership in sustainable start-ups.

Vid strömavbrott på fartyg krävs enligt SOLAS regelverk att en nödkraftkälla startar automatiskt. Världshandelsflottan använder sig idag till största delen av generatorer drivna av en fossildriven förbränningsmotor för detta. Här undersöktes möjligheten att istället använda sig av en UPS. Studien har fokuserat på frågan om det är möjligt enligt gällande regelverk, om det finns produkter på marknaden som uppfyller regelkraven samt hur kostnaderna för de två alternativen skiljer sig vad gäller inköp och underhåll i 25 år. Resultatet för kostnaderna redovisades i en livscykelkostnadskalkyl. Sett till regelverk ifrån Transportstyrelsens författningssamling samt klassificeringssällskapet DNV-GL är det tillåtet att använda ackumulatorer eller generatorer.    För att ha möjlighet att undersöka frågeställningen genom kostnadsförslag, sammanställdes en teoretisk fartygsmodell med svensk flagg. De företag som kontaktades var svenska tillverkare. Resultatet av den LCC som gjordes visade att det idag är billigare att investera i en konventionell nödgenerator. / The SOLAS regulations for merchant vessels states that in the event of loss of power, a backup power supply will start automatically. This paper investigated the possibility to replace the widely-used generator driven by a fossil-fuel powered internal combustion engine, with a UPS. Focus of the investigation included regulations concerning the use of accumulators onboard, market product range fulfilling the legal requirements and price difference based on purchase price and maintenance costs for 25 years. The cost results where compared as a Life Cycle Cost calculation. Regulations by the Swedish transport agency and the Classification DNV-GL allow the use of emergency power from accumulators or generator.   For the possibility to investigate through cost estimations, a theoretical model of a merchant vessel with Swedish flag, was set up. All companies contacted were Swedish manufacturer. The results in the LCC show the situation of today and lets us know that the most cost efficient investment is the conventional emergency generator.

Les adénovirus sont des virus non enveloppés. Afin de pouvoir se répliquer ils doivent entrer dans leur cellule hôte et être transportés jusqu’au noyau pour pouvoir initier l’expression du génome viral. Pour ce faire le virus utilise les composants de sa capside. Parmi ses composants, la protéine VI, une protéine interne de capside, induit la rupture de l’endosome grâce à son hélice amphipatique en N-terminal de la protéine. Récemment, une autre fonction de cette protéine a été décrite durant l’entrée du virus, impliquant cette fois-ci le motif conservé PPxY de la protéine VI. En effet la mutation de ce motif conservé : mutant M1 (PPxYPGAA), diminue de 20 fois l’infection du virus par rapport au virus sauvage. Cette baisse d’infectiosité est liée à un défaut de transport et d’accumulation du virus au niveau du centre organisateur des microtubules (MTOC). Il se trouve que la mutation du motif PPxY conduit à une perte d’interaction de la protéine VI avec les ubiquitines ligase de la famille Nedd4, mais également à un défaut d’ubiquitylation de la protéine VI. Nous avons ainsi entrepris d’étudier le rôle de cette modification post-traductionnelle lors de l’entrée du virus dans la cellule, mais aussi, de manière plus générale, le rôle de la protéine VI. Ainsi nous avons mis en évidence le rôle de la protéine VI et de son motif PPxY dans l’activation du génome viral. Par ailleurs, nous avons identifié une lysine ubiquitylée de la protéine VI et produit un mutant : mutant M6, pour étudier le rôle de cette ubiquitylation. Nous avons enfin entrepris de caractériser l’entrée du virus en produisant et en utilisant des adénovirus mutants, dont le nouveau mutant M6 / Adenoviruses are non-enveloped viruses. In order to replicate they have to enter their host cell and be transported toward the nucleus to initiate the viral gene expression. This requires the involvement of viral capsids components. Among these components, protein VI, an inner capsid protein, can induce endosomal rupture, thanks to its amphipathic helix located at the N-terminus part of the protein. Recently, the involvement of a conserved PPxY motif in the Protein VI has also been described in viral entry. Indeed, mutation of this motif (PPxY  PGAA) reduced infectivity of the mutant virus (M1 mutant) 20 folds compared to the wild type virus. This reduction of infectivity is related to a defect of transport and accumulation of viruses at the microtubule organizing center (MTOC) during virus entry. The mutation of PPxY motif leads to a loss of interaction between the protein VI and ubiquitin ligases from the Nedd4 family, and to a lack of protein VI ubiquitylation. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the role of this posttranslational modification during virus entry, but also more generally the role of protein VI. In this work, we highlight the role of protein VI and its PPxY motif in the activation of the viral genome. Moreover, to investigate the ubiquitylation during virus entry we identify a lysine mutant of protein VI that lack ubiquitylation without altering the potential for interaction with ubiquitin ligases: the mutant M6. We then proceed to characterize the entry of the virus by producing and using mutant viruses, including this new mutant.

Background: In today's digitalized and globalized business environment, entrepreneurs are constantly challenged to carefully plan its start-ups products, services or business model. Any failure in one of those components may result in a less competitive company, which could lead to failure as consequence. Business model is often seen as a central and important part of a start-up. Over time, entrepreneurs look for new ways of improving its current business model or new ways doing business always aiming economic growth. Business Model Innovation is a technique that supports companies, business managers and entrepreneurs to look for business opportunities (or business models) that would somehow be related to the company. Purpose: The main purpose of this master thesis is to expose the challenges that start-ups face in terms of business model and then to understand how the companies studied overcame those challenges by making use of business model innovation (BMI). We also look to understand what kind of impact business model innovation generated in the start-up, in terms of economic growth. Method: Primary data and secondary data were collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews involving multiple case study of five technology start-ups in Sweden. Once all data were collected and stored, we made use of open and axial coding techniques in order to perform data analysis to possibly generate a theory and the answer to the research questions. Conclusion: All start-ups are aware about the importance and positive benefits that business model innovation could bring. When it comes to challenges, there are two main problems, where the first one is related about the difficulty to abstract different business model and then incorporate into the company’s context while the second one is once they manage to overcome the first challenge, they still needs to find a way to make sure it would be profitable. Another finding is that older start-ups tends to be more aware about the positive and negative impacts that business model innovation could bring, and each company has its own method to validate a business model innovation. We analyzed each case, identified some patterns and develop a model that helps start-ups to validate potential business models to be incorporated in the company.

Este trabalho apresenta o estudo, análise e a implementação de três topologias de condicionadores ativos de energia elétrica, utilizados para a melhoria da qualidade da energia em sistemas elétricos trifásicos a quatro fios. Estes condicionadores de qualidade de energia podem trabalhar tanto como um condicionador unificado de qualidade de energia (UPQC), bem como uma fonte de alimentação ininterrupta (UPS), permitindo: (i) a supressão das correntes harmônicas da carga; (ii) a compensação de energia reativa da carga; (iii) compensação dos desequilíbrios das correntes de carga; (iv) a compensação de desequilíbrios de tensão da rede; (v) supressão das tensões harmônicas da rede elétrica; (vi) a regulação das tensões de saída (tensões de carga); e (vii) fornecimento de energia ininterrupta para as cargas críticas (sistema UPS). Dentre as três topologias de UPQC/UPS estudadas, uma delas é proposta neste trabalho com o intuito de reduzir a tensão no barramento CC. Além disso, todas as topologias em estudo são constituídas por dois conversores PWM, nos quais é adotada uma estratégia de controle dual. Desse modo, o conversor colocado em paralelo com a carga, funciona como uma fonte de tensão senoidal, enquanto que o conversor colocado em série entre a rede elétrica e a carga, é controlado para operar como uma fonte de corrente senoidal. Tanto os controladores de tensão, quanto os de corrente são implementados no referencial síncrono dq0. Além disso, a técnica de modulação vetorial espacial tridimensional (3-D-SVM) é empregada nos conversores. Testes experimentais são apresentados para validar o desenvolvimento teórico e verificar o bom desempenho estático e dinâmico dos condicionadores ativos de energia elétrica, operando como UPQC, bem como sistema UPS. / This work presents the study, analysis and implementation of three topologies of active power conditioners, which are used to improve the power quality in three-phase four-wire systems. These power quality conditioner can work as unified power quality conditioner (UPQC), as well as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system allowing: (i) suppression of load harmonic currents; (ii) compensation of load reactive power; (iii) load unbalances compensation; (iv) utility voltage unbalances compensation; (v) utility voltage harmonics suppression; (vi) regulation of the output voltages (load voltages); and (vii) uninterruptible power for critical loads when working as UPS system. Among the three topologies of UPQC/UPS studied, one of them is proposed in this work in order to reduce the DC-bus voltage. Besides, all the topologies are comprised of two PWM converters, where a dual control strategy is adopted. The first converter, which is placed in parallel with the load, operates as a sinusoidal voltage source, while the second, which is placed in series between the utility grid and the load, is controlled to operate as a sinusoidal current source. Both the voltage and current controllers are implemented into the synchronous rotating reference frame (dq0-axes). In addition, the series and parallel converters use the three-dimensional space vector modulation (3-D-SVM) technique. The experimental tests are presented to validate the theoretical development and to verify the effective static and dynamic performance of the proposed active power conditioners, operating as UPQC and UPS.

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Using photoelectron spectroscopy, we show measurements of energy level alignment of organic semiconducting layers. The main focus is on the properties and the influence of doped layers. The investigations on the p-doping process in organic semiconductors show typical charge carrier concentrations up to 2*10E20 cm-3. By a variation of the doping concentration, an over proportional influence on the position of the Fermi energy is observed. Comparing the number of charge carriers with the amount of dopants present in the layer, it is found that only 5% of the dopants undergo a full charge transfer. Furthermore, a detailed investigation of the density of states beyond the HOMO onset reveals that an exponentially decaying density of states reaches further into the band gap than commonly assumed. For an increasing amount of doping, the Fermi energy gets pinned on these states which suggests that a significant amount of charge carriers is present there. The investigation of metal top and bottom contacts aims at understanding the asymmetric current-voltage characteristics found for some symmetrically built device stacks. It can be shown that a reaction between the atoms from the top contact with the molecules of the layer leads to a change in energy level alignment that produces a 1.16eV lower electron injection barrier from the top. Further detailed investigations on such contacts show that the formation of a silver top contact is dominated by diffusion processes, leading to a broadened interface. However, upon insertion of a thin aluminum interlayer this diffusion can be stopped and an abrupt interface is achieved. Furthermore, in the case of a thick silver top contact, a monolayer of molecules is found to float on top of the metal layer, almost independent on the metal layer thickness. Finally, several device stacks are investigated, regarding interface dipoles, formation of depletion regions, energy alignment in mixed layers, and the influence of the built-in voltage. We show schematic energy level alignments of pn junctions, pin homojunctions, more complex pin heterojunctions with Zener-diode characteristics, as well as a complete OLED stack. The results allow a deeper insight in the working principle of such devices. / Mit Hilfe der Photoelektronenspektroskopie werden in der vorliegenden Arbeit Energieniveaus an Grenzflächen von organischen Halbleitern untersucht, wobei ein Hauptaugenmerk auf dem Einfluss und den Eigenschaften dotierter Schichten liegt. Bei der Untersuchung grundlegender Eigenschaften eines p-dotierten organischen Halbleiters können Ladungsträgerkonzentrationen bis zu 2*10E20 cm-3 nachgewiesen werden. Eine Variation der Dotierkonzentration zeigt einen überproportionalen Einfluss der Ladungsträger auf die Position des Ferminiveaus verglichen mit Experimenten an anorganischen Schichten. Durch den Vergleich mit der Anzahl Dotanden in der Schicht kann gezeigt werden, dass dabei nur etwa 5% der Dotanden einen vollständigen Ladungstransfer eingehen. Eine detaillierte Untersuchungen der Zustandsdichte jenseits des HOMOs (Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital) zeigt, dass die exponentiell abfallende Flanke der Zustandsdichte weiter in die Bandlücke hineinreicht als üblicherweise angenommen. Das Ferminiveau erfährt bei steigender Dotierung ein Pinning an diesen Zuständen, was für eine signifikante Ladungsträgerkonzentration spricht. Weiterhin wurden Untersuchungen zu Metal Top- und Grundkontakten durchgeführt. Es kann gezeigt werden, dass die Ursache für die Entstehung unsymmetrischer Strom-Spannungskurven, trotz eines symmetrischen Probenaufbaus, an einer Reaktion zwischen dem Molekül und den Metallatomen liegt. Dadurch entsteht eine um 1.16eV reduzierte Injektionsbarriere für Elektronen am Topkontakt. Weitere detaillierte Untersuchungen an diesen Topkontakten zeigen, dass im Falle von Silber als Metall diese Grenzfläche von Diffusionsprozessen dominiert ist. Im Gegensatz dazu zeigt das unedle Metall Aluminium keine Diffusion und führt zu abrupten Grenzflächen. Im ersten Fall kann zudem eine Monolage vom Molekül auf dem Metallkontakt nachgewiesen werden, die unabhängig von der Metalldicke aufschwimmt. Zuletzt werden Bauelemente oder Teile solcher mit Photoelektronenspektroskopie vermessen. Hierbei werden die Grenzflächendipole, die Ausbildung von Verarmungszonen, die Energieangleichung in Mischschichten und der Einfluss der Eingebauten Spannung untersucht. Es können die Banddiagramme von pn-Übergängen, einfachen pin Homoübergängen, komplexeren pin Heteroübergänge mit Zener-Dioden Verhalten sowie eine gesamte OLED gezeigt werden. Die Ergebnisse erlauben einen tieferen Einblick in die Arbeitsweise solcher Bauelemente.