The decision for adjuvant therapy in women with early stage breast cancer (ESBC) has historically been guided by the presence or absence of specific biological markers (hormone and HER2 receptors), age, and extent of nodal involvement. Oncotype DX® is a validated assay that quantifies protein expression that can predict the risk of cancer recurrence. This study evaluates if the use of Oncotype DX® impacts chemotherapy prescribing in ESBC. This retrospective, cohort study identified patients with ESBC from a large commercially insured population from January 2007 through June 2009. Patients were identified as having ESBC by utilizing procedure and diagnosis codes to indicate that a sentinel lymph node biopsy had been performed. Hormone receptor status was verified by patients receiving at least one month of hormonal therapy including: tamoxifen, anastrozole, letrozole, or exemestane. Exclusion criteria will include patients less than 18 years of age, procedure codes indicating axillary lymph node dissection, or charges for trastuzumab. The administration of Oncotype DX® was not found to significantly affect a physician’s decision to prescribe chemotherapy. However, there were significant regional differences in Oncotype DX® utilization by region. Future studies should be conducted at a population level to determine the effects of Oncotype DX®.

This thesis explores the rapidly growing phenomenon of equity crowdfunding from the perspective of professional investors. The aim was to contribute to the relatively thin aca-demic field of equity crowdfunding, shedding light on why it is yet to be recognized as an important instrument for raising capital and provide suggestions for improvement. The data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with Angel Investors that through their experience could identify benefits and constraints with equity crowd-funding not obvious to the crowd. Benefits of using equity crowdfunding platforms were outweighed by the identified constraints such as corporate governance issues, uncertainties concerning laws and regulations, high risk, and lack of intellectual capital. This eventually led to suggestions for improvements that included channelling the crowd investments through a mutual fund, and allowing the crowd to co-invest with Angel Investors to get around the constraints. Conclusively, the Angel Investors were positive towards the underlying ideology of equity crowdfunding of helping more entrepreneurial ventures reaching their full potential by tapping a previously unutilized source of capital, the crowd. However, there is scepticism to how the phenomenon is currently working in practice.

Despite the past decade’s increased adoption of scientific methodologies by startups, most still fail to scale into large companies. The paralyzing plethora of advice, theory and models recommended to startups is poorly matched by practical advice on the applicability and implications of actually following the recommendations. In this action-based research I, an IT consultant for twelve years and founder/co-founder of several startups, try out and evaluate the applicability of methodologies for applying scientific management principles to innovation in early-stage startups. In the first part of my research, I use an naive explorative hands-on approach which results in insights into the limited applicability of popular methodologies such as Growth Hacking and The Lean Startup. These limitations are especially pronounced for early-stage startups who are yet to launch a minimum viable product (MVP), as well as those that have trouble to decide which hypotheses are the riskiest. Most actionable insights during this part stemmed from the engagement in various thought-experiments and reflections, and not from external customer feedback. To remedy this, and to thoroughly evaluate the applicability of a pre-launch market assessment method, I engage in market opportunity discovery following the recommendations set forth by Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI). This hands-on in-depth approach yielded seemingly high-quality actionable insights with direct implications for the product and marketing strategy of the studied early-stage startup. In the discussion part, I reflect over the applicability of the evaluated methodologies and argue that the main difference between applicable and non-applicable methodologies is whether they are manufacturing-based or needs-based. Finally, I reflect over possible implications and suggest that a startup community wide change of mindset from manufacturing-based methodologies such as The Lean Startup to needs-based methodologies such as Outcome-Driven Innovation will minimize the startup innovation-process variability and increase startup efficiency dramatically on a global scale.

Bakgrund: Tillverkningsindustrins små företag utgör en stor andel av de totala företagen i Sverige, och branschen omsätter näst mest i landet. Tillverkningsbranschen står även för det största förädlingsvärdet. Det finns stor utvecklingspotential för dessa mindre företag när det gäller tillväxt, och ökad tillväxt skulle gynna såväl det lokala som nationella samhället. Förbättrad kunskap inom ekonomistyrning kan vara en väg till ökad tillväxt, men forskningen inom ämnet är skral när de kommer till små företag då den främst utgått empiriskt ifrån stora företag. Således saknas en helhetssyn över kunskaperna i tillverkningsindustrins små företag samt vad som förklarar dessa kunskaper.  Syfte: Att fördjupa förståelsen för ekonomistyrning bland mindre tillverkningsföretag genom att undersöka vilka ekonomistyrningskompetenser som är mer eller mindre frekventa i tillverkningsföretag med årlig omsättning mellan 5–20 miljoner kronor. Studien ämnar även undersöka vad som kan förklara de nuvarande ekonomistyrningskunskaperna.  Genomförande:  Det empiriska materialet samlades in via enkäter som undersökte företagsstruktur, självskattade kunskaper inom ekonomistyrning, framtida behov samt planerat tillvägagångssätt för att förbättra kompetenser inom ekonomistyrning. Enkäten skickades ut till över 800 respondentföretag. För att analysera empiriska data användes statistiska analysmetoder.     Slutsatser: Mindre tillverkningsföretag anser sig ha goda kunskaper inom de finansiella delarna av ekonomistyrning, relativt goda kunskaper inom de organisatoriska delarna och mindre goda kunskaper inom de kulturrelaterade delarna. Studien identifierar tre faktorer som genom underliggande strukturer förklarar företagens ekonomistyrning. Ett statistiskt signifikant samband har funnits mellan ledningsgruppens utbildningsnivå och förklaring av kunskaper inom en av de tre faktorerna. / Background: The manufacturing industry's small companies make up a large proportion of the total companies in Sweden, and the industry has the second highest turnover in the country. The manufacturing industry also stands for the greatest value added. There is room for development for these smaller businesses in terms of growth, and increased growth would benefit both local and national society. Improved management control competencies may be a path to increased growth, but research on the subject is scant when it comes to small companies, as it has primarily been empirically based on large companies. Thus, a holistic view over the knowledge structure in the manufacturing industry's small companies is lacking, as well as what explains their competencies.   Objective: Deepening the understanding of management control within smaller manufacturing companies by examining which management control competencies are more or less frequent in manufacturing companies with annual sales of between SEK 5-20 million. The study also intends to investigate what might explain their current knowledge within management control.  Design: The data was collected via surveys that examined company structure, self-assessed knowledge in management control and future competence need regarding management control. The survey was sent to more than 800 respondent companies.   Conclusion: Smaller manufacturing companies consider themselves to have good knowledge in the financial and organizational parts of management control and less knowledge in the culture-related management control. The study identifies three factors that explain the financial management of companies through underlying structures. A statistically significant relationship has been found between the management group's level of education and the explanation of knowledge within one of the three factors.

Un fait marquant et essentiel de la maladie neurodégénérative d’Alzheimer est la formation de plaques amyloïdes dans le cerveau, résultat de l’agrégation des protéines amyloïde-β (Aβ1-40/1-42). Le développement de nouveaux médicaments requiert la compréhension des mécanismes de formation des fibres amyloïdes et la connaissance de la structure et dynamique des oligomères métastables qui sont les vecteurs principaux de la neurotoxicité. Parce que les simulations atomistiques en solvant explicite ne peuvent pas être réalisées sur de grands systèmes pour des temps très longs, nous avons opté pour un modèle protéique gros grain (CG) avec un solvant implicite. Nous nous sommes intéressés dans ces travaux de thèse à clarifier le rôle d’interactions hydrodynamiques(HI) dans la dynamique de formation des agrégats du peptide Aβ(16-22), connu pour former également des fibres amyloïdes. Ces interactions sont essentielles pour modéliser,dans un solvant implicite, les processus se produisant dans des environnements cellulaires très encombrés. Notre approche est basée sur une méthode multi-échelle et multi-physique qui couple les techniques Lattice Boltzmann et de dynamique moléculaire(LBMD). Dans notre système, les interactions médiées par le solvant aqueux sont incluses naturellement. Pour le système moléculaire, nous avons choisi le modèle gros grain à haute résolution OPEP (Optimized Potential for Efficient Protein structure prediction). Pour la première fois, nous avons effectué des simulations quasi tout-atome pour de très grands systèmes contenant des milliers de peptides Aβ ( 16-22). Après avoir correctement réglé le paramètre clé de notre couplage afin d’obtenir la diffusivité expérimentale des monomères et des oligomères du peptide Aβ ( 16-22), nous avons démontré que les HI accélèrent le processus d’agrégation pour des systèmes de taille moyenne (100 Aβ (16-22) peptides) et grande (1000 Aβ (16-22) peptides). Une caractérisation détaillée de la taille des clusters et de l’organisation structurelle des peptides est présentée. Enfin,nous avons examiné comment la concentration affecte la première phase d’agrégation des peptides et leurs structures. / The self-assembly of misfolded amyloid-β (Aβ 1-40/1-42) proteins into insoluble fibrils is strongly linked to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The development of new drugs requires the understanding of the mechanisms leading to fibril formation, and the knowledge of the dynamics and structures of the early metastable oligomers which are the main neurotoxic species. Because atomistic simulations in explicit solvent cannot be performed on very large systems for a significant time scale, we resort to a coarse grained (CG) protein model with an implicit solvent. Our investigation enlightens the role of hydrodynamic interactions (HI) in the kinetics of β-amyloidogenesis, interactions which are essential, when an implicit solvent is used, to model processes occurring in highly crowded like-cell environments, among others.Our approach is based on a multi-scale and multi-physics method that couples Lattice Boltzmann and Molecular Dynamics (LBMD) techniques. In our scheme the solvent- mediated interactions are included naturally. As a first step, we focus on Aβ (16-22) peptide, known to form amyloid fibril alone, and we adopt the high resolution CG OPEP (Optimized Potential for Efficient Protein structure prediction) model, developed in our laboratory. For the first time, we have performed quasi-all-atom simulations for very large systems containing thousands of Aβ (16-22) peptides. After the correct tuning of the key parameters of our coupling in order to obtain the experimental diffusivity of Aβ (16-22) monomer and small oligomers, we have demonstrated that HI speed up the aggregation process of medium (100 peptides) and large (1000 peptides) systems. A detailed characterization of the fluctuating clusters along the trajectories is presented in terms of their sizes and the structural organization of the peptides. Finally, we have investigated how changes in the concentration affect the early aggregation phase of the peptides and their structures.

The present-day automotive industry is striving to design lightweight components by optimizing the design for minimization of weight. The topology optimization is used widely for the design of lightweight components. The casting process is time and cost effective for mass production and widely adopted within the automotive industry. Generally, castability is not considered in the weight optimization process. These weight optimized components are optimized once again in the later stage for cost-effectiveness in the casting process. The modified design usually weighs more than the weight optimized design. The design can be optimized for weight and castability simultaneously in the early stage of design and this thesis report presents an optimization process for the same. The optimization process presents effective usage of the topology optimization to design lightweight components without compromising castability. It is a three-step process where thetopology optimization is integrated with solidification simulation along with DFX -castability evaluation. The reliability of the conceptual design is predicted based on the mapping of solidification and stress hotspots. The process is implemented to design three components of Scaniatruck and weight is reduced by 15% to 25%. / Dagens bilindustri strävar efter att utforma lätta komponenter genom att optimera designen för att minimera vikt. Topologioptimering används i stor utsträckning för design av lätta komponenter. Gjutningsprocessen är tids-och kostnadseffektiv för massproduktion och allmänt vedertagen inom bilindustrin. Generellt ingår inte gjutbarhet i viktoptimeringsprocessen. Dessa viktoptimerade komponenter optimeras igen i ett senare skede för kostnadseffektivitet vid massproduktion. De flesta gånger är viktoptimerade koncept modifierade för att erhålla kostnadseffektivitet vid gjutning genom att lägga till extra vikt. I den här rapporten presenteras enoptimeringsdriven designprocess för att få pålitlig lättviktsgjutbar design. Optimeringsprocessen presenterar effektiv användning av topologioptimering för att utformalätta komponenter utan att kompromissa med gjutbarheten. Det är en trestegsprocess där topologioptimering integreras med förstärkningssimulering tillsammans med utvärdering avDFX-sårbarhet. Tillförlitligheten hos den konceptuella designen förutses baserat på kartläggningav stelningen och spänninggskoncentrationer. Processen är implementerad för att optimera utformningen av tre komponenter i Scania-lastbilar och vikten minskas med 15% till 25%.

This thesis investigates the design of atria for daylighting in large scale buildings. Athree dimensional test building with a central atrium was constructed and various parameters of the atrium altered. The impact of these changes was studied through computer simulations of annual daylight distribution by implementing state of theart software. Daylight autonomy is simulated for an annual climate file for Stockholm, Sweden. In the thesis, notion is made of basic daylighting concepts, the importance of bringing daylight into buildings is argued, and the daylighting criteria of three environmental certification tools introduced. Furthermore, a detailed comparison is made on several well known daylight simulation tools. A newly developed, state of the art, daylight simulation tool called Honeybee, is used in the simulation process. The tool utilizes the calculation engines of wellknown daylight simulation software Radiance and Daysim, which apply backward ray-tracing to reach accurate results. Honeybee is coupled to the graphical algorithmeditor Grasshopper for Rhinoceros 3D, which allows for an efficient way of parametric modelling. The comparison of five different daylight simulation tools showed that Honeybee outweighs the capabilities of many of them by offering a wast range of simulation capabilities and also giving the user exceptional control of result data within multiple zones of the test building. The results of the daylight study have been compiled into a document which purpose is to serve as early stage design guidelines of atria for architects. Many factors have been shown through simulation to have a dramatic impact on daylighton an annual basis, and several suggestions have been made on how to maximize the quantity of daylight within buildings containing atria.

The lack of coherent and established methods and processes for evaluating early-stage development projects presents a severe challenge for both investors and entrepreneurs. For investors, the lack of an established process risks making every investment decision “ad hoc”, and in the long run prevent any meaningful analysis or comparison between different investments. For the entrepreneur, it makes the fundraising process a maze of seemingly random information requests from potential investors and a constant lack of understanding of where in the process they are, what is required to reach a decision and where to focus their efforts. This thesis describes these challenges in more detail together with some general background of the tools available today. It continues to outline a generalized process for reaching an investment decision, together with descriptions of the different information artifacts that are central to the process. The result is a step-by-step process that can be predicted and iterated between the entrepreneur and the investor. In each step, focus is on a certain piece of information and the goal is to make it clear to all parties what is expected in each step and why. / Avsaknaden av en koherent och vedertagen process för att utvärdera utvecklingsprojekt i tidig fas presenterar and allvarlig utmaning för både investerare och entreprenörer. För investerare, bristen på en etablerad process riskerar att varje investeringsbeslut tas på ”ad-hoc” basis, vilket i det långa loppet omöjliggör meningsfull analys och jämförelse mellan olika investeringar. För entreprenören så gör det processen att söka investeringskapital till en labyrint av slumpmässiga informationsförfrågningar ifrån potentiella investerare och en konstant brist på förståelse för var i processen de befinner sig, vad som krävs för att nå beslut och vart de skall fokusera sitt arbete. Denna rapport beskriver dessa utmaningar i mer detalj, tillsammans med viss generell bakgrund om de verktyg som finns att tillgå idag. Den fortsätter med att beskriva en generaliserad process för att nå ett investeringsbeslut och de informationsartefakter som är centrala för processen. Resultatet är en steg för steg process som är förutsägbar och som kan itereras mellan entreprenören och investeraren. I varje steg ligger fokus på en specifik informationsdel och målet är att göra det tydligt för alla inblandade vad som förväntas i varje steg och varför.

The EU building sector is a main contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which need to be cut as part of the global response to anthropogenic climate change. This cut can be realised through improvements in building energy performance, such as optimisation of facade design. The early stage of the architectural process has been identified as the ideal time to implement such sustainable design choices. There is need for simple guidelines and tools to provide quantitative data to support these architectural decisions. BIM and parametric design can provide this, by facilitating model-based analysis and simulation, as part of an unbroken flow of information through the design process. This study uses Dynamo (the visual programming add-in for Autodesk Revit) together with the Honeybee and Ladybug environmental plugins, to conduct daylight, solar heat gains and thermal losses analyses and simulations. The aim was to identify limitations and opportunities in using Dynamo-Revit, to establish an optimal range for glazing-to-wall ratio (GWR) and to provide some simple room-sizing guidelines for architects in the early stage of the design process. The Dynamo-Revit workflow was found to be effective for specific projects, but difficult to perfect for multiple different projects. An optimal range for GWR was found as 30-40% for east, south and west-facing rooms and around 50% for rooms facing only north. Results were tabulated, linking room orientation and depth with estimated daylight access, solar heat gains and thermal losses. The results were reasonable, but could be improved by the use of more sophisticated analysis and simulation techniques, which should be facilitated by forthcoming development of Honeybee and Ladybug in Dynamo.

This thesis investigates how Jönköping Science Park frames and supports sustainable entrepreneurship in the region. More specifically, it discusses how this Science Park implements sustainability in collaboration with entrepreneurs and start-ups. In addition, the study evaluates how the Jönköping Science Park offering meets entrepreneurs' needs and expectations. In light of the gaps identified, recommendations are made for improving Science Park's sustainability support services in the future. The study applies Klaus Fichter and Karsten Hurrelmann’s conceptual framework for analyzing and designing sustainability orientation in incubators and science parks. This paper also uses the Client-Oriented Model of Evaluation by Evert Vedung to analyze how current Science Park sustainability support meets entrepreneurs' needs. A qualitative research approach was used in this study, with content analysis of open sources and internal documents, three interviews with Science Park officials, and corresponding email correspondence. The data was also gained through ten interviews with entrepreneurs and start-ups. The results show that Science Park implements sustainability in their collaboration with entrepreneurs and start-ups on the strategic level (vision, mission, strategy, and communication) and operational level (programs, activities, methods, and tools). The study's findings revealed that Science Park exhibits a clear strategic commitment to sustainability and acknowledges the responsibility to provide fully sustainable business development support to entrepreneurs and startups. On the operational level, sustainability implementation is fragmented and can be characterized by the “learning-by-doing” approach. Overall, Science Park places more emphasis on promoting sustainability and fostering a sustainability mindset than on providing extensive sustainability education. It is attributed to the fact that Science Park does not specialize in sustainability consultancy or services. Moreover, their focus primarily on early-stage entrepreneurship presents challenges when implementing sustainability support for entrepreneurs and start-ups.  Based on the identified gaps and provided recommendations, Science Park can strengthen its sustainability support offering in a practical perspective and contribute to tackling entrepreneurs' misunderstandings of the sustainability concept which is crucial for creating sustainability-oriented enterprises.