The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate and analyze how social workers experience the work Social Services' do with children in foster homes. This study aims to identify what the positive and negative aspects are from working with this group and to determine what changes can be made to improve the services for children of foster carers. The data that was collected from interviews with eight social workers were analyzed through thematic analysis as well as Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory. The analysis reveals that the work of Social Services' affects the children in foster homes on micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro-levels. Based on the reports from the social workers the results indicate that their social service offices include home-staying children in the investigation phases. The children are less included during the initial process and at the ending of placements. Most social workers expressed that working with home-staying children is crucial to reduce the risk of placement breakdowns. Additionally, they emphasized the need for more frequent work with this group. Based on the results, this study suggests several possible service improvements to address the needs of home-staying children. Despite policy gaps, some municipalities actively engage with home- staying children.

Artificial intelligence (AI) holds immense potential to revolutionize the global food system, driving sustainability, enhancing efficiency, and addressing food security challenges. However, the successful integration of AI in the food system demands a deep understanding of the complex interplay between technology, social factors, economic considerations, and ethical implications. This study explores the opportunities and challenges in implementing AI technologies within the Swedish food system, focusing on primary production. The research utilizes an expanded Socio-Technical System Theory (STST) framework, incorporating economic and ethical dimensions alongside the traditional social and technical levels. Literature review and semi-structured interviews provide insights into the dynamics of AI adoption in the Swedish context. The findings reveal that AI adoption in the Swedish food system is currently in the early adopter phase, with broad range applications. However, the study also uncovers significant barriers to widespread AI adoption, including the lack of suitable business models, fragmented data sharing infrastructures, and ethical concerns surrounding data privacy and ownership.  The analysis emphasizes the need for developing user-friendly interfaces, leveraging narrow AI applications, and establishing seamless data flow across the food value chain. The study contributes to the theoretical development of the Socio-Technical System Theory framework by demonstrating the importance of incorporating economic and ethical dimensions in understanding the complex dynamics of AI adoption in socio-technical systems. The findings also have practical implications for policymakers, industry actors, and researchers, emphasizing the significance of context-specific AI development, as well as the need for collaborative innovation processes. The research acknowledges its limitations, including the focus on primary production and the reliance on qualitative methods, and identifies potential areas for future research, such as comparative analyses across different food sectors and the use of quantitative approaches.  In conclusion, this study provides a timely and critical contribution to the understanding of AI's role and potential in transforming the Swedish food system. It indicates the need for developing suitable business plans, establishing data sharing platforms, and ensuring a harmonized data flow to harness the benefits of AI while navigating its challenges and risks, paving the way for a more sustainable and resilient food future. / Artificiell intelligens (AI) har enorm potential att revolutionera det globala livsmedelssystemet, driva hållbarhet, förbättra effektiviteten och hantera livsmedelssäkerhetsutmaningar. Men en framgångsrik integration av AI i livsmedelssystemet kräver en djup förståelse för det komplexa samspelet mellan teknik, sociala faktorer, ekonomiska överväganden och etiska implikationer. Denna studie utforskar möjligheterna och utmaningarna med att implementera AI-teknologier inom det svenska livsmedelssystemet, med fokus på primärproduktionen. Forskningen använder ett utökat ramverk för Socioteknisk Systemteori (STST), som inkluderar ekonomiska och etiska dimensioner tillsammans med de traditionella sociala och tekniska nivåerna. Litteraturöversikt och halvstrukturerade intervjuer ger insikter i dynamiken kring AI-antagande i svensk kontext. Resultaten visar att AI-antagandet i det svenska livsmedelssystemet för närvarande befinner sig i den tidiga antagandefasen, med breda tillämpningar. Studien avslöjar dock också betydande hinder för ett utbrett AI-antagande, inklusive bristen på lämpliga affärsmodeller, fragmenterade datadelingsinfrastrukturer och etiska bekymmer kring dataintegritet och ägande. Analysen betonar behovet av att utveckla användarvänliga gränssnitt, utnyttja smala AI-applikationer och etablera sömlösa dataflöden över hela livsmedelsvärdekedjan. Studien bidrar till den teoretiska utvecklingen av Socioteknisk Systemteori genom att visa vikten av att inkludera ekonomiska och etiska dimensioner för att förstå den komplexa dynamiken kring AI-antagande i sociotekniska system. Resultaten har också praktiska implikationer för beslutsfattare, branschaktörer och forskare, och betonar betydelsen av kontextspecifik AI-utveckling samt behovet av samarbetsinriktade innovationsprocesser. Forskningen erkänner sina begränsningar, inklusive fokus på primärproduktion och beroende av kvalitativa metoder, och identifierar potentiella områden för framtida forskning, såsom jämförande analyser över olika livsmedelssektorer och användningen av kvantitativa metoder. Sammanfattningsvis ger denna studie ett aktuellt och kritiskt bidrag till förståelsen av AI roll och potential i att transformera det svenska livsmedelssystemet. Den pekar på behovet av att utveckla lämpliga affärsplaner, etablera plattformar för datadelning och säkerställa ett harmoniserat dataflöde för att utnyttja AI fördelar samtidigt som man navigerar dess utmaningar och risker, och banar vägen för en mer hållbar och motståndskraftig livsmedelsframtid.

The main body of this thesis consists of six appended papers. In the  first two, different  cooperative surveillance problems are considered. The second two consider different aspects of the trajectory planning problem, while the last two deal with observer design for mobile robotic and Euler-Lagrange systems respectively.In Papers A and B,  a combinatorial optimization based framework to cooperative surveillance missions using multiple Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) is proposed. In particular, Paper A  considers the the Minimum Time UGV Surveillance Problem (MTUSP) while Paper B treats the Connectivity Constrained UGV Surveillance Problem (CUSP). The minimum time formulation is the following. Given a set of surveillance UGVs and a polyhedral area, find waypoint-paths for all UGVs such that every point of the area is visible from  a point on a waypoint-path and such that the time for executing the search in parallel is minimized.  The connectivity constrained formulation  extends the MTUSP by additionally requiring the induced information graph to be  kept recurrently connected  at the time instants when the UGVs  perform the surveillance mission.  In these two papers, the NP-hardness of  both these problems are shown and decomposition techniques are proposed that allow us to find an approximative solution efficiently in an algorithmic manner.Paper C addresses the problem of designing a real time, high performance trajectory planner for an aerial vehicle that uses information about terrain and enemy threats, to fly low and avoid radar exposure on the way to a given target. The high-level framework augments Receding Horizon Control (RHC) with a graph based terminal cost that captures the global characteristics of the environment.  An important issue with RHC is to make sure that the greedy, short term optimization does not lead to long term problems, which in our case boils down to two things: not getting into situations where a collision is unavoidable, and making sure that the destination is actually reached. Hence, the main contribution of this paper is to present a trajectory planner with provable safety and task completion properties. Direct methods for trajectory optimization are traditionally based on a priori temporal discretization and collocation methods. In Paper D, the problem of adaptive node distribution is formulated as a constrained optimization problem, which is to be included in the underlying nonlinear mathematical programming problem. The benefits of utilizing the suggested method for  online  trajectory optimization are illustrated by a missile guidance example.In Paper E, the problem of active observer design for an important class of non-uniformly observable systems, namely mobile robotic systems, is considered. The set of feasible configurations and the set of output flow equivalent states are defined. It is shown that the inter-relation between these two sets may serve as the basis for design of active observers. The proposed observer design methodology is illustrated by considering a  unicycle robot model, equipped with a set of range-measuring sensors. Finally, in Paper F, a geometrically intrinsic observer for Euler-Lagrange systems is defined and analyzed. This observer is a generalization of the observer proposed by Aghannan and Rouchon. Their contractivity result is reproduced and complemented  by  a proof  that the region of contraction is infinitely thin. Moreover, assuming a priori bounds on the velocities, convergence of the observer is shown by means of Lyapunov's direct method in the case of configuration manifolds with constant curvature. / QC 20100622 / TAIS, AURES

<p>The main body of this thesis consists of four appended papers. The first two consider different aspects of the trajectory planning problem, while the last two deal with observer design for mobile robotic and Euler-Lagrange systems respectively.</p><p>The first paper addresses the problem of designing a real time, high performance trajectory planner for aerial vehicles. The main contribution is two-fold. Firstly, by augmenting a novel safety maneuver at the end of the planned trajectory, this paper extends previous results by having provable safety properties in a 3D setting. Secondly, assuming initial feasibility, the planning method is shown to have finite time task completion. Moreover, in the second part of the paper, the problem of simultaneous arrival of multiple aerial vehicles is considered. By using a time-scale separation principle, one is able to adopt standard Laplacian control to this consensus problem, which is neither unconstrained, nor first order.</p><p>Direct methods for trajectory optimization are traditionally based on<i> a</i> <i>priori </i>temporal discretization and collocation methods. In the second paper, the problem of adaptive node distribution is formulated as a constrained optimization problem, which is to be included in the underlying nonlinear mathematical programming problem. The benefits of utilizing the suggested method for online trajectory optimization are illustrated by a missile guidance example.</p><p>In the third paper, the problem of active observer design for an important class of non-uniformly observable systems, namely mobile robotics systems, is considered. The set of feasible configurations and the set of output flow equivalent states are defined. It is shown that the inter-relation between these two sets may serve as the basis for design of active observers. The proposed observer design methodology is illustrated by considering a unicycle robot model, equipped with a set of range-measuring sensors.</p><p>Finally, in the fourth paper, a geometrically intrinsic observer for Euler-Lagrange systems is defined and analyzed. This observer is a generalization of the observer recently proposed by Aghannan and Rouchon. Their contractivity result is reproduced and complemented by a proof that the region of contraction is infinitely thin. However, assuming <i>a</i> <i>priori </i>bounds on the velocities, convergence of the observer is shown by means of Lyapunov's direct method in the case of configuration manifolds with constant curvature.</p>

Forming teacher teams is currently the standard way of organizing teachers in Swedish Compulsory Schools. This is the result of a process that started in the 1970s. Traditionally the culture of teaching has been one of isolation. Once the door to the classroom is shut, what happens behind the door is up to the teacher to decide. Over the past thirty years a lot of time has been dedicated to making fundamental changes in the way teachers interact with their colleagues. Today the idea of teachers forming teams is generally accepted but still the core of a Swedish teacher’s job is that of a lone worker. The purpose of this paper is to study how the role of the teacher has been defined in the Swedish curricula of 1962, 1980, 1994 and 2011. Of particular interest is if the teacher role is expected to be solitary or collaborative and if this has changed from the 1960s to the current curriculum of 2011. The theoretical framework consists of the frame factor theory and systemic/role theory. The curricula have been studied using a word search method, identifying sentences with the words teacher or teachers. These sentences have then been coded in different categories depending on what instructional words have used together with the word teacher/teachers. In the analysis, specific interest has been addressed to autonomous (solitary) or homonymous (collaborative) role expectations. The study shows that the teacher role has changed from one curriculum to the other. The state control of the teacher varies through the use of different instructional words. The state control has increased and is strongest in the most recent curriculum of 2011. The study also reveals the fact that Swedish curriculums never have been used to stress to collaborative aspects of being a teacher but rather to stress solitary role expectations. / Syftet med denna studie är att studera hur lärarrollen har definierats och förändrats i grundskolans läroplaner mellan 1962-2011, med fokus på två olika sätt att se på lärarens uppdrag; läraren som ensam styrare av verksamheten i klassrummet eller lärarlag som utövar en viss grad av kollektiv styrning. Frågeställningarna i studien är; Hur har lärarens uppdrag formulerats i läroplanerna? Förväntas läraren utföra sitt uppdrag ensam eller tillsammans med andra lärare? Organisationsteori är utgångspunkten för forskningsintresset och det är inom denna sektor som studiens resultat kan vara av praktisk nytta. Studien fokuserar på läroplanerna och de rollförväntningar som beskrivs i dessa. Rollteori/systemteori ger de teoretiska begreppen och är utgångspunkten för analysen. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats men en viss kvantitativ bearbetning av data förekommer. Ett urval av data har gjorts från läroplanerna LGR 62, LGR 80, Lpo 94 samt LGR 11. Vid urvalet har selektiv kodning använts med utgångspunkt i kärnkategorin läraren/lärarna. Nästa kategorisering har varit vilka instruktionsord som kopplas samman med kärnkategorin. I analysmomentet har särskilt intresse riktats mot autonoma rollförväntningar (individuella roller) eller homonoma rollförväntningar (samarbetsroller). Studien visar att formuleringen av lärarens uppdrag förändrats från en läroplan till en annan. Statens styrning har förändrats genom användandet av olika slags instruktionsord. Vad man väljer att styra hårdare har varierat. Den senaste läroplanen LGR 11 innehåller också den starkaste styrningen genom ett konsekvent användande av instruktionen läraren ska. Studien visar också att läroplanerna aldrig i någon högre grad har använts för att formulera ett kollektivt uppdrag riktat till lärarna som grupp. De kollektiva beslutsprocesser som beskrivs är mer inriktade på att involvera eleverna i beslutsfattande. Huvudfokus i alla läroplanerna ligger på den enskilde lärarens arbete och inte på ett kollektivt utförande av uppdraget.

I Barn- och ungdomsklinikens strävan efter barnanpassad vård har behandlingssituationer framför allt identifierats som en utmaning, där det medicinska perspektivet ibland bedöms vara överordnat det barnrättsliga. Forskning och evidens visar att när sjukhusclowner och medarbetare samverkar i behandlingar och procedurer minskar barnens oro, stress och smärta och trygghet, delaktighet och självbestämmande ökar. Syftet med förbättringsarbetet är att förbättra samverkan mellan sjukhusclowner och medarbetare och därigenom bidra till och stärka barnanpassad vård. Utifrån detta sattes ett mål om att öka samverkan från 16%-75%. Syftet med studien är att undersöka möjligheter och hinder mellan sjukhusclowner och medarbetare i barn- och ungdomssjukvården för en hållbar samverkan. Två förändringsidéer har arbetats med; skriva en rutin för samverkan och skapa en e-utbildning. Förbättringsarbetets metod utgår från mikrosystemet och beskrivs genom förbättringsrampen. Studien är kvalitativ och har använt tematisk innehållsanalys med induktivansats. Patientens röst kommer från resultatet av strukturerade intervjuer som genomfördes med 15 barn i åldrarna 0–15 år och deras föräldrar. Övrigt insamlat material kommer från enkäter till medarbetare, en fokusgrupp och fyra djupintervjuer med medarbetare och sjukhusclowner.Målet på 75% samverkan nåddes under mars. Det resultatet visar är att information, kommunikation och workshops gett önskad effekt. Studiens resultat lyfter fram två teman med vardera två kategorier. Det första temat berör gemensamma incitament som knyter samman grupper, med kategorierna värdet av ett reflekterande arbetssätt och uppbyggnad av gemensam kunskap. Det andra temat är hållbarhet i förbättringsarbete, med kategorierna förbättrad systematik och struktur och tillgänglighet och trygghet.Slutsatsen är att informanterna anser att den barnanpassade vården stärks när sjukhusclowner och medarbetare samverkar i behandlingar och procedurer. Sjukhusclownernas tillgänglighet ses som det största hindret för samverkan. För att skapa en gemensam kunskapsgrund och hållbarhet i förbättringsarbetet behöver det interprofessionella lärandet och arbetet stärkas genom bl.a. användandet och skapandet av nya och befintliga forum. / In the striving for child-friendly care, treatment situations have above all been identified as a challenge, where the medical perspective is sometimes judged to be superior to childrens rights. Research and evidence show that when hospital clowns and staff collaborate in treatments and procedures, children's anxiety, stress and pain decrease and security, participation and self-determination increase.The purpose of the improvement work is to improve collaboration between hospital clowns and employees and thereby contribute to and strengthen child-friendly care. Based on this, a goal was set to increase collaboration from 16% -75%. The purpose of studies is to investigate opportunities and prevent between hospital clowns and employees in child and adolescent health care for a sustainable collaboration. Two ideas for change have been worked on; write a routine for collaboration and create an e-learning.The method of improvement work is based on the microsystem and is described through the improvement ramp. The study is qualitative and has used thematic content analysis with an inductive approach. The patient's voice comes from the results of structured interviews conducted with 15 children aged 0–15 years and their parents. Other material collected comes from surveys of employees, a focus group and four in-depth interviews with employees and hospital clowns.The target of 75% collaboration was reached in March. The results that shows is that information, communication and workshops have the desired effect. The results of the study highlight two themes, each with two categories. The first theme concerns common incentives that connect groups, with the categories the value of a reflective approach and the building of common knowledge. The second theme is sustainable in improvement work, with the categories improved systematics, structure and accessibility and security.The conclusion is that informants believe that child-friendly care strengthens when hospital clowns and staff collaborate in treatments and procedures. The availability of hospital clowns is seen as the biggest obstacle to collaboration. In order to create a common knowledge base and sustainability in the improvement work, interprofessional learning and work need to be strengthened through e.g. the use and creation of new and existing forums.

2017 became the beginning of the Childbirth Crisis of Sweden, as a result of underbudgeting and understaffing, creating an environment where patient safety and availability was questioned. Additionally, information and communication technology rapidly take a larger role in the field of healthcare, nourishing new solutions for old processes. This explorative research was conducted to answer how information and communication technologies, and communication techniques, are used and could be used to provide safe care for patients. This study was conducted with 10 participants working as medical staff at a Swedish neonatal care unit. The medical staff who participated consisted of registered nurses, certified pediatric nurses, pediatric nursing assistants, and one nursing assistant. The approach of this research was through system thinking in the tradition of soft systems thinking. The data collection was performed with a combination of semi-structured interviews and card sorting. The collected data were processed, organized, and interpreted with the three c’s of analysis and thematic analysis. The results of this study are complemented by rich pictures. The empirical findings of this study describe a neonatal care unit known at its hospital to be the one unit holding the largest number of different devices. The medical staff at the researched NCU are using information and communication technology in a combination together with specific communication techniques, to create an understanding of their patients’ conditions. The study connects a state of safe care to the training and knowledge of the information and communication technologies, and communication techniques used at the neonatal care unit. The combination of the information and communication technologies, and communication techniques used at the NCU are vital tools, conclusive to the medical staff when providing safe care for patients. This study provides an insight into one Swedish neonatal care unit, based on the interpretations of its medical staff.

Sammanfattning/AbstractEriksson, Cristina (2022). Speciallärare med specialisering språk-, skriv- och läsutveckling -en kollega med lite fler verktyg i sin verktygslåda. Specialpedagogprogrammet, Institutionenför skolutveckling och ledarskap, Lärande och samhälle, Malmö Universitet, 90 hp.Förväntat kunskapsbidragDenna studie belyser vikten av pedagogiska samtal och kollegialt lärande. Genom att synliggörainformanternas bild av uppdraget för speciallärare med inriktning språk-, skriv- ochläsutveckling och deras uppfattningar utifrån inkludering, anpassningar och elevers skiftandebehov förväntas studien bidra med förutsättningar för ett gynnsamt och språkutvecklandesamarbete mellan lärare och speciallärare utifrån ett relationellt perspektiv.Syfte och frågeställningarStudien belyser några lärares uppfattningar vad gäller uppdraget för en speciallärare medinriktning språk-, skriv- och läsutveckling och hur de tänker att en sådan kan utveckla ochfördjupa arbetet i verksamheten. Följande preciserade frågeställningar har formulerats för attbehandla studiens syfte:• Hur uppfattas en speciallärare kunna bidra till och komplettera det språkinriktadearbetet i verksamheten?• Vilka uppfattningar gällande inkludering, särskilda anpassningar och elever ibehov av särskilt stöd framträder hos respondenterna?TeoriStudiens teoretiska ramverk grundar sig i systemteoretiskt perspektiv, närmare bestämtBronfenbrenners ekologiska systemteori. Bronfenbrenner (1979), framhåller att elevers lärandeär beroende av omgivningen och argumenterar för att det är viktigt att se barnets utveckling irelation till de olika system som barnet är en del av. Den utvecklingsekologiska modellen bestårav fyra strukturer som Bronfenbrenner benämner mikro-, meso-, exo- och makrosystemet. I