När Sverige är värdland för Eurovision Song Contest ges de en möjlighet att visa upp och presentera sitt land för en hel värld. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur föreställningar om Sverige och svenskhet konstrueras och reproduceras genom Eurovision Song Contest. Genom att titta på tv-sändningarna från ESC 2013 och 2016 då Sverige stod för värdskapet analyserar jag hur Sveriges självpresentation görs och hur talet om Sverige och svenskhet bidrar till en föreställd gemenskap inom landet. Föreställningar om Sverige och svenskhet konstrueras och reproduceras hela tiden i programmen men det görs inom ESC:s specifika kontext. I ESC finns en föreställning om ett enat och jämlikt Europa. Denna föreställning behöver hela tiden upprätthållas av värdlandet i sin självpresentation. Därför tilldelas Sverige ständigt dubbla roller där de både behöver vara särskiljande för att kunna sälja in sitt land, samtidigt som de måste vara enande för att upprätthålla föreställningen om ett enat Europa.

The cultural event Eurovision Song Contest has shown signs to contain international conflicts where countries have not been able to keep them out of the competition, which has created a “spill over effect” on the event. This thesis has aimed to investigate why culture, in this case the Eurovision Song Contest, has become an arena for international identity politics, as the contest should be a depoliticised arena. The thesis has been studied as a case study and international conflicts have been investigated as the cases. The selected conflicts that are investigated in this thesis are the one´s between Russia and Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as Israel, Lebanon and Palestine. The conservative LGBTQ-discussion has also been analysed as a fourth conflict. The study has been analysed from a discourse analysis and with the theoretical perspective of constructivism, which has been used as an explanatory theory. The selected empirical material mainly involve media reports related to the Eurovision Song Contest.  The analysis shows that the countries demonstrated a lack of mutual understanding of each other's interests, which the theory constructivism claims are a requirement for cooperation. The conflicts have arisen and appeared in different ways, but all of them have also been about fragmented identity perceptions. This has partly been an explanation of why conflicts have arisen in a cultural context such as the Eurovision Song Contest. The explanation on the LGBTQ-discussion has also been about different perceptions of identity and interests but it has mainly been about a new norm, where love can exist between the same sexes and where identities do not need to be defined based on just men and women. According to constructivism, this new norm will need time to be accepted and until it will belong to social constructs. Eastern Europe and Western Europe differ in this fact where Eastern Europe has not come as far in the development with the LGBTQ-discussion.

För att reducera risken för temperatursprickor vid motgjutningar kan motgjutna betongkonstruktioner värmas upp för att minska de temperaturdifferenser som orsakar temperatursprickorna. Inom anläggningsbyggandet är ingjutna värmekablar den vanliga metoden för att åstadkomma detta. Två nackdelar med värmekablarna är dels att de måste förberedas för och gjutas in vid en tidigare gjutning, dels att de kan gå sönder vid gjutningen och därmed bli obrukbara. Som ett alternativ och komplement till värmekablarna utformades och producerades under 2014 en ny typ av värmematta avsedd för uppvärmning av betongkonstruktioner. Denna nya värmematta är uppbyggd på samma sätt som så kallade tjältiningsmattor men har en lägre elektrisk effekt. Tack vare den lägre effekten ska den utan att överhettas kunna användas kontinuerligt i ett antal dagar och på så vis öka medeltemperaturen i betongen. I detta arbete undersöks vilken uppvärmande funktion värmemattan har på den underliggande betong som ska värmas upp. Detta undersöktes i fyra fältförsök genom temperaturmätningar på olika höjder i de betongkonstruktioner som värmdes upp. Försöken gjordes på bottenplattor och valv och värmemattorna täcktes vid försöken med 10 mm betongtäckmatta av cellplast. Försöken genomfördes i både soligt och torrt samt molnigt och regnigt väder. Mätdata från dessa försök användes sedan för att ta fram ett förslag för hur värmemattans uppvärmande funktion kan modelleras i programmet Contest. Detta förslag presenteras i avsnitt 5.1.2och är det huvudsakliga resultatet av detta arbete. Det kan användas för att inkludera värmemattans funktion vid bedömningar av sprickrisk i Contest. I denna uppsats beskrivs också två verkliga gjutningar av en tunnelkonstruktion där värmemattan använts som sprickbegränsande åtgärd. Slutligen gjordes en ekonomisk betraktelse av värmemattan som sprickriskbegränsande åtgärd där den jämfördes med alternativet att använda värmekablar. Slutsatsen av denna uppsats är att värmemattans uppvärmande funktion på ett enkelt och ändamålsenlig sätt kan modelleras i programmet Contest genom den metod som föreslås. I förslaget tas hänsyn till att nederbörd och solstrålning påverkar uppvärmningen. Därför kan den verkliga uppvärmningen bli högre än vad som erhålls med förslaget, som ger en uppvärmning på den säkra sidan. Denna konservativa, medvetet något lågt bedömda uppvärmning motsvarar den som fås av konventionella värmekablar monterade på överkantsarmering med 40 cm c/c-avstånd. Ur ekonomisk synvinkel innebär ett inköp av värmemattor en relativt stor initial investeringskostnad jämfört med värmekablar. Värmemattan som metod är därför dyrare initialt, men blir så småningom lönsam eftersom värmemattan kan återanvändas ett stort antal gånger. Utifrån de ekonomiska antaganden som gjordes i denna uppsats var värmemattorna billigare än värmekablarna efter ungefär 30 gångers användning. / In order to reduce the risk of thermal cracks in a concrete structure it is recommended to reduce the temperature differences between already existing concrete parts and the newly cast parts. Therefore, adjacent and already cast parts of the structure are sometimes heated up prior to casting of a new concrete part. This reduces the temperature differences within the structure and thus the risk of thermal cracks. This heating is generally done via heating cables placed in the concrete. This method has two drawbacks: firstly, one has to plan for the heating cables in an early stage and secondly, the cables sometimes break when cast in. As an alternative and compliment to the heating cables, a new type of heating mat for heating of concrete structures was designed and produced during 2014. It is built the same way as frost thawing mats but has a lower electrical effect to avoid overheating when heating the concrete. The main subject that is investigated in this thesis is the effect the heating mat has on the underlying concrete. This was investigated in four field trials by measuring the temperature in concrete members while heating them up with the heating mats. The field trials were effected on concrete slabs and vaults and the heating mats were covered with a concrete curing mat made of 10 mm cellular plastic. The field trials were conducted in sunny and dry conditions as well as in cloudy and rainy conditions. Data from the field trials were used to produce a proposal on how to model the heating mat’s warming effect in Contest. This proposal is presented in Section 5.1.2and is the main result of this thesis. It can be used to include the heating mat’s effect in simulations to estimate thermal crack risks in Contest. In addition, two real castings of a tunnel structure are described in which heating mats were used to reduce the risk for thermal cracks. These two castings are studied regarding the risk for thermal cracking. Finally, an economical comparison is made where using heating mats is compared to using heating cables. The conclusion of this thesis is that the warming effect of the heating mat can be modeled in Contest in a simple and appropriate manner according to the proposed method. The proposed method considers that precipitation and sunshine influence the heating of the concrete. The actual temperature rise in the heated concrete might therefore be greater than what is obtained using the method in Contest, which gives a rise in temperature on the safe side. This conservative, slightly low estimation of the rise in temperature corresponds to using heating cables mounted on the upper reinforcement with a c / c distance of 40 cm. From an economic point of view, the purchase of heating mats means a relatively important initial investment cost compared to heating cables. Using heating mats instead of heating cables is therefore initially more expensive, but will eventually be profitable since the heating mats are not consumed. Based on the economic assumptions made in this thesis the heating mat was less expensive than heating cables if used more than about 30 times.

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This paper extends Beviá and Corchón (2013) to a model with both endogenous contestable prize and endogenous relative strength. Such a setting is ideal for the study of intra-organizational rivalries, commonly observed in family, sports, promotion, and duopoly. We find that when the game starts with asymmetric players, the weaker player exerts more effort than the stronger player. As a result, the weaker player partially overcomes the disadvantage of being weak. In this setting, neither domino nor avalanche effect exists.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur nationer använder nationsmarknadsföring och narrativitet för att förmedla en särskild bild genom att nyttja Eurovision Song Contest som kommunikationsplattform. Undersökningen görs via en semiotisk analys som granskar utvalda visuella delar från tre nationer som agerat värd för evenemanget mellan åren 2009–2018. Resultatet av analysen visar på att nationerna följer olika narrativa spår som lyfter särskilda saker. I diskussionsavsnittet tas två olika hypoteser upp angående värdländernas nationsmarknadsföringar. Den ena är den kulturella hypotesen, alltså att värdlandets kulturella bakgrund präglar nationsmarknadsföringen. Den andra är den strategiska hypotesen som syftar till att värdlandet strategiskt väljer att använda särskilda narrativ utifrån exempelvis sin politiska situation. Diskussionen poängterar dock att andra faktorer kan ha inverkan på nationsmarknadsföringen, såsom huruvida nationen tidigare varit värdland i evenemanget.

In many markets, efficiency depends on the quality of information that participants have. However, participants may face frictions in accessing information, which could result in significant welfare losses. My dissertation studies the causes and consequences of information frictions, focusing on the security analyst market and the public cloud market. The first two chapters investigate how information frictions are generated in the security analyst market. Security analysts observe signals and compete to make forecasts on securities’ earnings, which serve as public information to investors. Here I study how analysts’ incentives affect the quality of information they provide. In Chapter 1, I consider security analysts’ incentives as a whole and estimate them using revealed preference. Security analysts are rewarded for being more accurate than their peers. This reward for relative accuracy leads analysts to distort their forecasts to differentiate themselves, but also disciplines them from being overoptimistic. I structurally estimate a contest model with incomplete information to capture both effects, disentangling the payoffs for relative accuracy, optimism and absolute accuracy. Using the model, I conduct counterfactuals to evaluate policies that reduce analysts’ payoff for relative accuracy. I simulate the effect of these policies on the quality of information in terms of forecast errors and variances. The reward for relative accuracy reduces errors by 33 - 58%, but increases variances by 4%. It is optimal to have moderate competition between the covering analysts of each security. In Chapter 2, I ask where these incentives come from. Are analysts motivated by dynamic incentives of reputation, or by short-term compensation such as bonuses? I show with reduced form evidence that low-reputation analysts may face more incentive to outperform their rivals than high reputation analysts. Building on this, I develop and estimate a dynamic model where analysts compete to build reputation and earn compensation. I find that analysts face a strong reputation-building incentive because high reputation is associated with a much higher fixed wage. Meanwhile, their forecasts have an insignificant impact on their immediate compensation. Chapter 3 studies the consequences of information frictions in the public cloud market. Firms need information about available technologies to make good adoption decisions. Inattentiveness to such information may create stickiness to outdated technology. In a joint project with Sida Peng and Peichun Wang, we study the welfare benefits of firms’ public cloud adoption and the consequence of consumer inertia in this market. We develop a novel demand model that allows for both multiple product choices and continuous quantities on each product. We estimate the model using a proprietary dataset on individual firms’ cloud usage history from a major public cloud provider. The estimated average return on investment in cloud is 2.2 times the cost of investment, which is driven by smaller firms disproportionately benefiting from access to computing resources on the cloud. On the other hand, inertia on the cloud leads to sub-optimal product choices for all firms and reduces welfare from cloud usage by almost 62%. We show that introductory discounts incentivizing firms to try new products can improve both consumer welfare and provider revenue.

Since its debut 1956 Eurovision Song Contest has been a live televised music competition. Over several decades the contest has evolved and with modern technology the contest is about more than just the musical aspects. There are now many more factors to consider while watching and judging the competing acts. Various modes of communications, such as audio, visual, and performance elements, collectively create meaning and contributes to the overall viewing experience. To understand which elements are more profound in creating meaning, a study of seven Eurovision fans was undertaken in a focus group. The fans got to watch seven handpicked Eurovision performances from within the past decade (2014-2023). The result is a discussion about how this audience perceive and value modes and to which degree these aspects generated meaning for each of them individually. Through a comprehensive analysis of the discussion, the study aims to uncover patterns, preferences, and the evolving role of multimodality in shaping the audience's perception of Eurovision as a multimedia spectacle. The participants were able to speak freely about the subject due to their shared interest of the topic, yet the conversation did not particularly hold any evidence of multimodal patterns nor multimodal grammar.

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