Title: Distance form of teaching physical education during the pandemic SARS- CoV-2. Aims: The aim of this work was to determine the course and provision of physical education in the time of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020. Methods: An online questionnaire was used to write the work, which was shared with teachers via social networks and via email. CAWI method was used for data collection. The data were subsequently processed using MS Excel 2013. Results: The results show that in the spring the teaching of physical education took place much less and less often than in the autumn. In the spring, the teachers did not yet have such technical equipment compared to the autumn, and the teaching took place mainly in an offline form. In the autumn, more teachers taught online, focusing mainly on motivating children to move. In the spring part, the teaching was more theoretically focused. Respondents agreed that a failure in physical education will have a major impact on children's development in the future. Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, distance learning, physical education, government measures, pandemic

Background: The epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the pediatric population, with a focus on racial and ethnic disparities and impact of societal public health measures, remains poorly understood. Methods: This large observational study used electronically abstracted data from pediatric (≤ 19 years of age) patients who received a molecular test for SARS-CoV-2 at a UMass Memorial Health Care (UMMHC) site between March 8, 2020 and April 3, 2021 which was further supplemented by manual chart review of a subset of pediatric SARS-CoV-2 cases. Multivariable logistic regression models with interaction terms were used to identify risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Segmented regression analysis using Poisson models was used to estimate the effect of public health measures on the weekly incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results: A total of 25,426 unique pediatric patients were tested for SARS-CoV-2 among whom 2,920 (11.5%) tested positive. The average age of those who tested positive was 10.8 years (SD: 5.8) and 48.1% were female. In the subset analysis, nearly three-quarters (75.9%) of SARS-CoV-2 diagnoses occurred through a telephone encounter, meaning that the child was not physically examined by a provider prior diagnosis and only 2.0% were admitted for inpatient care at diagnosis. Results of multivariable regression revealed that children or parents who self-reported Black race, Hispanic ethnicity, and non-English primary language were associated with approximately twice the odds of testing positive in comparison with White or English-speaking patients. Furthermore, increasing age was associated with increased odds of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 (aOR: 1.1 (1-4 years), 1.2 (5-9 years), 1.4 (10-14 years), 1.6 (15-17 years), 1.7 (18-19 years)). However, this association between age and positivity rate, varies by race/ethnicity and primary language such that Non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and non-English speaking children had markedly greater odds of testing positive during adolescence in comparison to Non-Hispanic White and English-speaking counterparts. Results from segmented regression analysis demonstrated a decline in weekly incidence of cases 9.9% (95% CI: 7.8 – 11.9) after the Massachusetts state mask mandate was implemented. During the winter holidays, the rate of increase in the weekly incidence of cases was 12.1% (95% CI: 11.9 – 12.3) in this pediatric population. Conclusions: Many SARS-CoV-2 cases have been diagnosed at UMMHC sites and notable racial/ethnic disparities exist that vary based on patient age. Public health measures are effective at preventing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 among children.

During the past two years, the pandemic of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has impacted where a big share of the world’s employees conducts their work. Governments around the world have encouraged people to stay at home as much as possible, in the hope of slowing down the infection rate of the virus. Companies around the world have therefore encouraged their employees to work from home. The change has been rapid and unusual for a lot of people. The purpose of this thesis is to examine what the effects of working from home has had on employees and what parameters may make it sustainable long-term. When investigating this matter further, a set of sub-questions has been identified in hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the topic and to answer the question of How can working from home be sustainable long-term? This paper is a qualitative research that follows an inductive approach. The literature review provides relevant theoretical background, which has then been the foundation for the analysis and conclusion. The theories provided covers leadership, motivation, efficiency, gender equality, government support, and internationalization. The conceptual framework then provides a deeper understanding of how each of these theories relates to the main question and its sub-questions. The authors have then examined secondary data such as articles from trusted journals as well as government records in a systematic literature review. An analysis of the findings in the systematic literature review in correlation to the theories has then been made to each sub-question. The concluding chapter then ties the thesis by answering the main question of this subject.

As a global phenomenon, the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 has impacted the socio-economic and political life like no other event of the recent past. With over 600,000 fatalities in its member-states, an unprecedented economic recession and damage to the Single Market, the European Union has been hit unexpectedly hard by COVID-19. Through the lens of Securitisation, and more precisely, Collective Securitisation, this thesis has the purpose to examine how the EU and its institutions have responded to the threat that is the spread of SARS-CoV-2, asking ‘Has SARS-CoV-2 been successfully securitised in the European Union?’. By applying a qualitative content analysis to speeches of the European Commission published between January and May 2020 as well as to a European Parliament Plenary debate following the speech of Commission President von der Leyen on April 16th, 2020, the thesis establishes that securitising moves have taken place in the examined timeframe and that they have been accepted by the European Parliament. In accordance with the Copenhagen School framework of Securitisation and Sperling and Webber’s Collective Securitisation model, the thesis concludes that COVID-19 was therefore successfully securitised.

Introduktion COVID-19 orsakas av viruset SARS-CoV-2. 3-chymotrypsin-liknande cysteinproteaset (3CLpro) är ett enzym som styr coronavirus replikation och är viktigt för viruset livscykel. Därför 3CL pro är en viktig måltavla för att hämma SARS-CoV-2. Syfte Syftet med detta projekt är att undersöka om proteashämmare kan vara en framkomlig väg för att ta fram antivirala läkemedel mot COVID-19. Metod Arbetet är en litteraturstudie och databasen PubMed har använts för att hitta vetenskapliga artiklar med hjälp av olika sökord, såsom SARS-CoV 2 and protease inhibitors, SARS-CoV-2 and 3CL-pro, MERS-CoV and 3CLpro inhibitors och SARS-CoV and 3CLpro. Totalt valdes 10 vetenskapliga artiklar ut som grund för att undersöka om några proteashämmare finns rapporterade och hur de utvärderats, dvs i prekliniska studier eller kliniska studier. Resultat  Peptidomimetiska alfa-ketoamider är effektiva bredspektrum hämmare för att hämma 3CL pro i SARS-CoV-2 och enterovirus, t.ex. alfa-ketoamiderna (13a och 13b) som även visade goda farmakokinetiska egenskaper i prekliniska studier. Även läkemedelskandidater (11a och 11b) har utvärderats i prekliniska studier och både visade hög SARS-CoV-2 3CL-pro hämmande aktivitet. Två nya studier visade att genomsekvensen för SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro är mycket lik den för SARS-CoV-1 än MERS-CoV. Herbacetin, rhoifolin pectolinarin och Biflavonoid amentoflavon 9 visade en effektiv hämning av SARS-CoV-1 3CL pro. Herbacetin, isobavachalcone, quercetin 3 ‐ β ‐ d ‐ glukosid, helikrysetin och enterovirushämmare (6b, 6c och 6d) visat sig ha hämmande aktivitet och kunde hämma den enzymatiska aktiviteten hos MERS-CoV 3CL pro. De redan framtagna HIV-proteashämmarna lopinavir och ritonavir har utvärderats i kliniska prövningar och både visade ingen skillnad mot standardbehandling samt minskade inte dödlighet. Slutsats Slutsatsen som kan dras av studien är att det finns flera proteashämmare i preklinisk fas mot SARS-COV-2 3CL-pro samt finns flera proteashämmare mot SARS-CoV-1 och MERS-CoV. Proteashämmare kan vara ett möjligt läkemedel mot COVID-19 i framtiden, men det tar lång tid för att utveckla ett nytt läkemedel.

Following the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA fragments in wastewater in March 2020, the use of wastewater-based epidemiology is rapidly emerging as a non-invasive approach to assessing community wide COVID-19 prevalence. Wastewater-based epidemiology is promoted as a complement to clinical testing in terms of improving public health authorities’ preparedness and supporting them in taking required interventions to protect the public health.  To utilize the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater in a public health context and evaluate trends in viral prevalence on a community level, robust data interpretation is required. This master's thesis work examines what is currently known about the factors that influence the concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, as well as the impact of alternative normalization approaches on the relationship between viral wastewater data and clinical case numbers. The work is divided into two parts where this report provides a state-of-the-art review as well as an overview of key findings in the accompanied scientific paper.  The study involved collection of wastewater samples from two different sized wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Luleå municipality, between January and March 2021.  Concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 RNA were quantified in each sample as well as concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV). Average daily WWTP flow and environmental data (precipitation and temperature) were continuously measured over the sampling period. The population size was estimated based on mass loads of TN and TP and literature values of the domestic contribution of these parameters to the sewer system. The viral wastewater data was normalized using the estimations of population size, census data, WWTP flow and PMMoV. The impact of the alternative normalization approaches was evaluated using statistical analyses to explore the relationship to clinical case numbers.  The result showed that the strength of the correlation between the different normalization approaches and clinical case data differed between the WWTPs. However, within each WWTP the differences in correlation between the different normalization approaches and clinical cases were not significant. Moreover, normalization using WWTP flow (i.e., viral loads) showed a stronger correlation to clinical cases compared to population and PMMoV normalized viral loads. However, when comparing wastewater data between the two catchment areas, the normalization approaches utilizing population (either census or TN and TP estimated population) or PMMoV better reflect the number of clinical cases. Additionally, according to time-shifted analysis, wastewater data of SARS-CoV-2 RNA predated an increase in clinical cases by 0-2 and 5-8 days, respectively, for the larger and smaller WWTPs.

Introduction: The coronavirus is an RNA virus with a lipid envelope. The initially known coronaviruses are (MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV) which caused fatal endemics in 2002 and 2012. At the end of 2019, a new variant of coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2) was discovered in Wuhan in China. SARS-CoV-2 has caused serious diseases especially in the older groups with millions of infections and deaths. The World Health Organization (WHO) identified Covid-19 as a global health emergency on 30 January 2020 and classified it as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Several companies started developing a vaccine to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Several vaccination programs have been approved and are currently used against Covid-19. Objectives: The work aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of the approved mRNA-based vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. Method: The work was based on reviewing published, scientific articles that examined safety and efficacy of mRNA-based vaccines (Pfizer BionTech BNT162b and mRNA-1273 Modern). In total there were five clinical trials selected from Pubmed. Two studies examined the safety and efficacy of mRNA-1273 Moderna and three other studies examined the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer BionTech BNT162b. Results: Both vaccines have shown good safety and efficacy and were well tolerated in patients in different ages. mRNA-based vaccines have shown mild to moderate symptoms that were higher after dose 2 and disappeared after a few days. Both Pfizer BionTech and Modern mRNA-1273 have shown efficiencies over 90%.

Les composés organiques volatils (COV) jouent un rôle majeur au sein du système atmosphérique puisqu’ils interviennent en tant que précurseurs d’ozone troposphérique et d’aérosols organiques secondaires (composés aux divers impacts sanitaires et climatiques) ; d’où le réel besoin de mieux les caractériser. A ce jour, de fortes incertitudes demeurent quant à leur nature, leur quantification et la contribution de leurs sources d’émissions respectives.Cette thèse propose, au travers d’expérimentations de laboratoire et de terrain, une caractérisation exhaustive des COV et de leurs principales sources d’émissions en région Île-de-France. Les méthodes mises en place dans ce travail de thèse reposent sur la détermination de profils de spéciation caractéristiques du trafic routier, du chauffage au bois et du gaz naturel à partir d’investigations en champ proche (en tunnel, en cheminée et à partir d’un conduit de gaz domestique). Ces différents profils de source ont été utilisés comme empreinte chimique de référence pour l’identification des principales sources d’émissions de COV, dont les contributions respectives ont été estimées à l’aide du modèle source-récepteur Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF), appliqué sur une année d’acquisition de mesures COV (HCNM+COVO) à Paris. Ce travail de thèse a ainsi permis, pour la première fois, d’étudier la variabilité saisonnière des COV et de leurs sources majeures. Les émissions liées au trafic routier ont été révélées comme la principale source de COV d’origine locale/régionale à Paris (contribuant à ¼ des émissions totales à l’échelle annuelle). L’impact prépondérant du chauffage au bois en hiver (50 % de la masse totale COV mesurée) a également été mis en évidence. Les résultats de cette étude de répartition de sources ont été confrontés à l’inventaire des émissions d’Airparif. Nous avons souligné un bon accord entre nos observations et l’inventaire pour les sources liées au trafic automobile et au chauffage au bois.Cette évaluation indépendante des inventaires est essentielle puisque ces derniers sont aujourd’hui utilisés comme données d’entrée au sein des modèles de prévision de qualité de l’air. / Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) play a key role within the atmospheric system acting as precursors of ground-level ozone and secondary organic aerosols (causing health and climatic impacts); hence the growing interest of better characterizing them. Significant uncertainties are still associated with compounds speciation, quantification and respective contributions from the different emission sources.This thesis proposes, through several laboratory and intensive field campaigns, a detailed characterization of VOCs and their main emissions sources within the Île-de-France region. We used methods based on the determination of speciation profiles indicative of road traffic, wood burning and natural gas sources obtained from near-field investigations (inside a tunnel, at a fireplace and from a domestic gas flue). These different source profiles were used as chemical fingerprints for the identification of the main VOC emission sources, which respective contributions were estimated using the Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) source-receptor model applied to one-year VOCs (including NMHC+OVOC) measurements in Paris. This thesis allowed, for the first time, to evaluate the seasonal variability of VOCs and their main emission sources. Road traffic-related emissions are major VOC local/regional sources in Paris (contributing to a quarter of total annual emissions). The important impact of wood burning in winter (50 % of the VOC total mass) was observed. Results obtained from this approach were compared with the regional emissions inventory provided by the air quality monitoring network Airparif. Finally, a good agreement was found between our observations and the inventory for road traffic and wood burning-related sources.This independent assessment of inventories is of great interest because they are currently used as input data within air quality prediction models.

La sensibilisation du grand public à la pollution intérieure, les exigences croissantes des réglementations/recommandations le tout combiné à une nécessité de se démarquer de la concurrence, font de la limitation de la concentration des COV (COV : Composés Organiques Volatiles) dans l’air habitacle un enjeu crucial pour l’industrie automobile. En effet, à l’intérieur des véhicules, les COV sont principalement issus de l’air extérieur par combustion et évaporation du carburant mais, contrairement aux autres polluants, peuvent également avoir une origine intérieure à l’habitacle de par la désorption de substances chimiques utilisées lors de la fabrication des matériaux présents dans le véhicule. La capture des COV par adsorption sur charbons actifs ou zéolithes est à ce jour l’une des techniques d’abattement des COVs les plus efficaces et les moins coûteuses mais souffre de certaines limitations (sélectivité, régénération). L’objectif de cette thèse a consisté à étudier une alternative avec l’emploi d’une autre classe d’adsorbants ‘hybrides’ : les Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs). Formés de briques inorganiques connectées par des ligands organiques, ces matériaux poreux cristallisés présentent une grande diversité structurale ainsi qu’une composition chimique (métal, ligand) et une porosité (taille des pores, surface spécifique et volume poreux) extrêmement modulables. Cela vient de la possibilité quasi-infinie de faire varier à la fois le centre métallique et le ligand organique, ce que l’on ne retrouve pas à cette échelle chez les zéolithes et les charbons actifs. Le travail a consisté à évaluer les performances d’une série d’une dizaine de MOFs, possédant des propriétés chimiques (acidité, redox, hydrophiles/hydrophobes, …) et structurales (taille et forme des pores, réseaux rigides ou flexibles…) différenciées mais aussi de leur stabilité avérée (eau, température) et mise à l’échelle déjà établie. En plus des caractérisations usuelles (diffraction des rayons X, analyse thermogravimétrique, spectroscopie Infra-Rouge, porosimétrie N2 à 77K), la spectroscopie Infra-Rouge operando a été utilisée pour simuler le comportement de ces MOFs en présence de COV dans des conditions aussi proches que possible de la réalité. Les adsorbants les plus prometteurs ont ensuite été mis à l’échelle (50-100 g) et mis en forme (pastilles) puis testés en chambre de simulation environnementale. / The indoor air pollution awareness of general public and the increasing demands of regulations / recommendations, combined with a need to stand out from the competition, make limiting the concentration of VOCs (VOCs : volatile organic compounds ) in the air cockpit crucial for the automotive industry. For example, inside a vehicle, the VOCs are originated from the outside air by combustion and evaporation of fuel. However, unlike other pollutants, it may also have an inner origin from the desorption of existing chemical substances used in the manufacture of the vehicle. Thus, the capture of VOCs by adsorption is one of the challenging techniques today. In this context, activated carbon and zeolite based VOC abatement are effective and least expensive but suffers some limitations in stability, selectivity and regeneration. The aim of this thesis was to study an alternative class of 'hybrid' adsorbents i.e. Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs). These porous crystalline materials are built by the association of inorganic bricks connected by organic ligands. They have highly tunable structural diversity,chemical composition (metal:ligand) and porosity (pore size, surface area and pore volume). Moreover, they possess almost infinite ability to vary both the metal center and the organic ligand that is not found at this level in zeolites and activated carbons. The work was to evaluate the performance of a series of ten MOFs, having diverse architecture (size and shape of the pores, rigid or flexible networks ...), chemical properties (acidity, redox, hydrophilic / hydrophobic, ...) and stability (water temperature). In addition to the usual characterization (X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, infrared spectroscopy, porosimetry N2 at 77K), Infra-Red spectroscopy operando was performed to simulate the behavior of these MOFs in the presence of VOCs in conditions as close as possible to the reality. Furthermore, the most promising adsorbents were scaled up (50-100 g) and formatted/fabricated as pellets and tested for environmental simulation chamber.

En réponse aux changements climatiques avérés et à une qualité de l'air qui se dégrade, la quantification des émissions de gaz à effet de serre et des polluants atmosphériques des régions urbanisées suscite un intérêt croissant. La meilleure description des émissions anthropiques actuellement disponible est proposée par les inventaires d'émission. Mais leurs estimations, fournies par secteur, reposent sur la combinaison de données d'activité et de facteurs d'émission déterminés sur bancs d'essai et qui ne représentent pas forcément bien les conditions réelles d'émission. Paris, en tant que 3e mégapole européenne, se place dans ce contexte et nous avons choisi d'utiliser des méthodes reposant sur l'acquisition de mesures in situ en région parisienne pour caractériser le signal urbain et vérifier les estimations de l'inventaire régional haute résolution d'Airparif. Les méthodes mises en place dans ce travail de thèse reposent sur l'utilisation conjointe de différents traceurs atmosphériques (CO, NOx, COV). En effet, ils sont co-émis au CO2 lors des processus de combustions incomplètes dans des proportions supposées caractéristiques du secteur d'émission. Les rapports de concentration entre les différentes espèces co-émises sont donc un outil de choix pour cette étude. Nous avons alors développé différentes méthodes d'évaluation de ces rapports pour caractériser les émissions pour l'une des sources prédominantes de CO2 à Paris (le trafic routier) ou dans le panache parisien. Les variabilités spatiale et saisonnière des rapports ont notamment pu être étudiées et les conclusions obtenues n'étaient pas forcément référencées dans les estimations des inventaires ou d'études antérieures. Nous avons comparé nos résultats aux estimations fournies par l'inventaire le plus récent d'Airparif qui apparait généralement surestimer ces rapports. Enfin, nous avons combiné les résultats de l'approche multi-espèces à ceux fournis par l'analyse des isotopes du carbone dans le CO2 (souvent utilisés comme référence pour l'étude des émissions anthropiques). D'après leur analyse, les émissions de CO2 à Paris sont majoritairement d'origine fossile (81 %) et l'utilisation des combustibles fossiles est répartie quasi équitablement. Finalement, l'accord satisfaisant trouvé entre les deux démarches (multi-espèces et isotopique) a permis d'affirmer leur pertinence pour l'étude des signaux urbains moyens. / In response to changing air quality and climate, there is a growing interest in quantifying emissions ofatmospheric pollutants and greenhouse gases from urban areas. Currently emission inventories provide the most detailed description of anthropogenic emissions. However, their estimates rely on the combination of activity proxies and emission factors for individual source sectors calibrated for benchmarck situations that may significantly differ from real conditions. Paris, the third largest megacity in Europe, can be considered in this context. We used methods based on in situ measurements in this region to characterise the urban signal and independently assess the latest estimates from the regional inventory. The methods we developed rely on the joint analysis of atmospheric tracers (CO, NOx, VOCs) which are co-emitted with CO2 during incomplete combustion processes in ratios that are characteristic of each emission sector. These ratios between co-emitted species are thus an appropriate tool to study the urban signal. During this PhD, we developed several methods to evaluate the ratios using measurements for a major CO2 emission source in Paris (road traffic) or for measurements acquired in the urban atmosphere. We revealed spatial and seasonal variabilities in these ratios and the main conclusions were not necessarily in complete accordance with the ones from inventories or previous studies. We also compared our results to the estimates provided by the latest regional inventory, which appears to overestimate them in most cases. Finally, we combined the results obtained with the multi-species analysis to the ones provided by isotopic analyses (which are often used as a reference to study anthropogenic emissions). According to the analyses of these measurements, CO2 emissions in Paris came mostly from combustion of fossil fuels (81 %) and the use of each fossil fuel is almost equally distributed. Finally, the satisfactory agreement found between the two approaches (multi-species and isotopic one) confirmed their relevancefor the analysis of mean urban signals.