Many scholars have researched on the effects of individual mediation strategy following the categorization by Touval and Zartman (1985), and Bercovitch (1991). Despite the growing recognition of the potential synergetic effects among different strategies, not many systematic studies have been done on that aspect. This thesis contributes to this understudied aspect of mediation approach by asking What is the impact of mediation strategy on quality peace after civil war? The study adopts the method of structured, focused comparison along with the detailed process tracing on four cases of peace agreements and their mediation process from Northern Ireland, Mindanao, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Niger. The study aims to test a theoretical argument linking combined-application of mediation strategies with high quality peace. The empirical findings provide a modest support to hypothesis and a weak support to the causal mechanism, as not all cases, having applied all three strategies, have achieved high quality peace and have promoted third-party guarantee and inclusivity. While the empirical findings point to other contextual factors that may affect the peace agreement implementation, the findings also indicate a potential promising mediation approach that combines directive strategy either with communicative-facilitative or procedural strategy putting more weight on the latter strategy.

Despite the growing prominence of ‘international contact groups’ in the field of peacemaking, there is little academic attention for such ad hoc informal negotiating groups of third-party states. This study seeks to contribute to this understudied topic by investigating under what conditions contact groups are most likely to achieve negotiation success. Based on the framework of ‘recognition theory’, I argue that respect for each member as equal partner of the negotiating group helps to prevent obstructive behaviour. It is therefore hypothesised that ‘recognition for all members of the contact group enhances the likelihood of reaching agreement on a peacemaking strategy’. This is tested by means of a structured focused comparison in a most-similar cases design, studying two contact groups that operated during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo. I subsequently probe the generalisability of my findings by extending the analysis with a third case of contact group negotiations on Syria in 2012. The empirical findings provide support for the hypothesis and hint at the theory’s relevance in today’s context of increasingly dispersed power and mediation leverage. Nevertheless, further research is needed to establish with greater validity and reliability the effect of recognition and how it relates to other conditions for success.

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Background. Recent trends indicates that attackers are shifting focus to more vulnerable targets; the software supply chain, which has consequently resulted in one of the top security challenges faced by organizations. One specific aspect of the software supply chain that has garnered significant attention is the use of third-party libraries and the high degree of impact exploited vulnerabilities have in relation to third-party libraries, such as Log4Shell. Objectives. The objective of this thesis is to determine the impact of removing unused Java third-party library classes in terms of security vulnerabilities and business value. Methods. A Gradle plugin was developed consisting of three coupled tasks to be used in the experiment where the primary objective is identifying and removing unused third-party classes. The experiment was conducted on 11 production-grade projects. For each of the 11 projects, approximately 12 versions were tested. The plugin was executed on each of the versions and a manual analysis of the result was conducted. The manual analysis consisted of finding the vulnerabilities connected to the respective vulnerable class. Subsequently, the result was analyzed and calculated. Results. The results from the tested projects showed a low overall impact on the number of vulnerabilities before and after the removal of unused classes. However, the vulnerability results differed greatly among the projects. A pattern between all projects was that the vulnerabilities increased in earlier versions. In the projects where there was an effect of removing unused classes, the average CVSS score increased which represents the severity of the vulnerabilities. This suggests that low-severity vulnerabilities were more prevalent in the set of removed vulnerabilities. Over all projects, there was a 40-50% decrease in the total number of classes before and after removing classes which from a security perspective lowers the project’s overall attack surface. On average 85% of the vulnerabilities were found after the release of the project versions. Conclusions. Based on the results we can see that the removal of unused third-party library classes does not have a significant impact on the number of vulnerabilities in the analyzed Java applications. However, this may not reflect all Java projects as we could see a greater impact on certain projects. The removal of vulnerabilities post-release date of a Java component was seen to have minimal to no business value for the analyzed projects. In contrast, a pilot study on a different project from another team within the same company demonstrated a higher level of business value. The reduction of the attack surface was assessed to 40-50% on all conducted projects, which would indicate a significant business value. Before incorporating such a solution, each project would need to be evaluated to determine the balance between security and complexity. / Bakgrund. De senaste trenderna tyder på att attackerare flyttar fokus till mer sårbara mål; mjukvaruförsörjningskedjan, vilket har blivit en av de största säkerhetsutmaningarna som organisationer står inför. En specifik aspekt av mjukvaruförsörjningskedjan som har fått stor uppmärksamhet är användningen av tredjepartsbibliotek och den höga graden av påverkan som exploaterade sårbarheter har i förhållande till tredjepartsbibliotek, såsom Log4Shell. Syfte. Syftet med denna studie är att fastställa effekten av att ta bort oanvända Java-klasser från tredjepartsbibliotek ur en sårbarhet och företagsvärde -perspektiv. Metod. Ett Gradle-plugin utvecklades bestående av tre beroende uppgifter som ska användas i experimentet där det primära målet är att identifiera och ta bort oanvända tredjepartsklasser. Experimentet genomfördes på 11 projekt av produktionskvalitet. För vart och ett av dessa 11 projekt testades cirka 12 versioner. Gradle-pluginet kördes på var och en av versionerna samt en manuell analys av resultatet utfördes. Den manuella analysen bestod i att hitta sårbarheterna kopplade till respektive sårbar klass. Därefter analyserades och beräknades resultatet. Resultat. Resultatet av de testade projekten visade en låg total inverkan på antalet sårbarheter före och efter borttagningen av oanvända klasser. Dessa resultat skilde sig dock mycket mellan projekten. Ett specifikt mönster mellan alla projekt var att sårbarheterna ökade i tidigare versioner. I de projekt där borttagning av klasser gjorde en inverkan, ökade genomsnittet av CVSS-poängen vilket representerar allvarlighetsgraden av sårbarheterna. Detta tyder på att svagheter med låga poäng var vanligare i uppsättningen av borttagna sårbarheter. Över alla projekt så togs 40-50% av det totala antalet klasser bort, vilket ur ett säkerhetsperspektiv sänker projektets totala attackyta. I genomsnitt hittades 85% av sårbarheterna efter lanseringen av projektversionerna. Slutsatser. Baserat på resultaten kan vi se att borttagningen av oanvända klasser från tredjepartsbibliotek inte har någon betydande påverkan på antalet sårbarheter i de analyserade Java-applikationerna. Men detta kanske inte speglar alla Java-projekt då vi kunde se en större påverkan på vissa projekt. Borttagning av sårbarheter efter releasedatum för ett Java-projekt visade sig ha minimalt till noll företagsvärde för de analyserade projekten. En pilotstudie på ett projekt som hanteras av ett annat team i samma företag, resulterade i ett större företagsvärde. Reduceringen av attackytan uppskattas till 40-50% för alla genomförda projekt, vilket innebär ett större företagsvärde. Innan man integrerar en sådan lösning, bör varje projekt utvärderas för att fastställa balansen mellan säkerhet och komplexitet.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the circumstances that result in the inability of third-party interventions to solve civil wars. Previous research has examined the impact of third-party interventions on the outcomes of civil wars, the interests of third-party actors in civil wars, as well as the perceptions of civil war participants on third-party actors. The theory in this paper asserts that third-party interventions are unsuccessful when the government and leader of at least one country place the interest of special interest groups ahead of the national interest of their country. This research uses the war in eastern Ukraine as a case study. This thesis uses nationalist and veteran groups as the special interest group, and high officials in the presidential administration of Volodymyr Zelenskiy as the government leaders. The rhetoric of the Zelenskiy administration in regards to the prospects of instituting peace in eastern Ukraine is examined from the time span of May 2019 to March 2021. The evidence of this research demonstrates that the rhetoric administration of Zelenskiy changed from conciliatory and positive, to that of a combination of positive and negative rhetoric towards peace. These government officials attempted to appeal to their voting base, as well as the special interest groups studied. This contradicting rhetoric creates an environment of confusion in regards to ending wars and conflicts.

Product labeling is increasingly used as a tool to differentiate products with public and private benefits that cannot be readily evaluated by a consumer at the time of purchase. Our research investigates how a labeling program may be applied in the sale of ornamental plants to address two key issues; plant disease and irrigation water use. A choice modeling survey was utilized to estimate consumers' willingness to pay a premium for six ornamental plants with disease-free and/or water conservation certification labels. The results of the mixed logit models show consumers are willing to pay a premium for plants certified as disease-free and/or produced with water conservation practices. The results strongly suggest producers can recoup some of the costs of implementing water conservation measures such as water recycling and disease control measures amid regulatory and drought concerns. Our research also investigated consumers' preferences for multiple third party certifying authorities and whether preferences for the labels varied among consumers. The results showed ornamental plant consumers did not reveal a preference for a particular certifying authority. The results are mixed as to whether willingness to pay for the labels varies among respondents. We show willingness to pay does vary among respondents for three of the plant models indicating preference heterogeneity. / Master of Science

Bakgrund – Essity, en framstående aktör inom hygien- och hälsobranschen, står inför utmaningar gällande logistikflödet för konsumentprodukter från produktionsanläggningen i Lilla Edet till kunder i Danmark. Den nuvarande logistikprocessen involverar intern transport med egna lastbilar till externa lager. I detta sammanhang är det av yttersta vikt att säkerställa snabba och kostnadseffektiva leveranser, samtidigt som kundtillfredsställelse upprätthålls. Syfte – Projektet syftar till att analysera och optimera Essitys nuvarande logistikflöde för konsumentprodukter. Fokus ligger på att identifiera potentiella förbättringar för att säkerställa smidiga och effektiva leveranser till den danska marknaden. En central del av studien innefattar även övervägandet av att integrera en tredjepartslogistikpartner (3PL) för att ytterligare förbättra logistikstrukturen. Metod – En omfattande metodik har använts, där både kvalitativa och kvantitativa aspekter har analyserats. Genom intervjuer och observationer har data samlats in för att skapa en holistisk förståelse för nuvarande logistikflöde och eventuella alternativa lösningar. Resultat och diskussion – Den omfattande analysen av Essitys nuvarande logistikflöde avslöjar viktiga insikter. Den befintliga metoden, med intern transport till externa lager, visar sig vara ekonomiskt gynnsam, särskilt när kontrakterade kostnader för externa lager och andra projektrelaterade utgifter för år 2023 beaktas. Det är värt att notera att de ekonomiska data för en alternativ lösning från en potentiell 3PL-leverantör gäller för år 2025. För att förstå möjliga förändringar i kostnader över tid har hänsyn tagits till den potentiella ökningen av kostnaderna för den befintliga metoden. Diskussionen inkluderar också miljöaspekter, där olika lösningar övervägs för att identifiera den mest hållbara och lönsamma strategin för Essitys logistik. Lösning 2, som involverar byggandet av ett nytt lager (green warehouse) och användning av elfordon och HVO-drivna lastbilar, presenterar sig som en hållbar inriktning som kan minska CO2-utsläppen och bidra till Essitys övergripande mål att minska miljöpåverkan. Rekommendationer för Essity – Baserat på resultaten av analysen rekommenderas Essity att genomföra en benchmarking för att undersöka erbjudanden från andra potentiella 3PL- leverantörer. Förhandlingar med det nuvarande externa lagret för att förbättra prisstrukturen bör övervägas, särskilt med tanke på de betydande totala kostnaderna för båda lösningarna. Slutligen bör Essity överväga att göra en strategisk investering i att bygga ett utökat manuellt lager nära det befintliga, vilket kan möjliggöra ökad flexibilitet och kostnadseffektivitet över tiden. / Background – Essity, a prominent player in the hygiene and health industry, faces challenges regarding the logistics flow for consumer products from its production facility in Lilla Edet to customers in Denmark. The current logistics process involves internal transportation with company-owned trucks to external warehouses. In this context, ensuring swift and cost- effective deliveries while maintaining customer satisfaction is of utmost importance. Purpose – The project aims to analyze and optimize Essity's current logistics flow for consumer products. The focus is on identifying potential improvements to ensure smooth and efficient deliveries to the Danish market. A central part of the investigation also involves considering the integration of a third-party logistics partner (3PL) to further enhance the logistics structure. Method – A comprehensive methodology has been employed, analyzing both qualitative and quantitative aspects. Through interviews and observations, data has been collected to gain a holistic understanding of the current logistics flow and potential alternative solutions. Results and Discussion – The extensive analysis of Essity's current logistics flow reveals crucial insights. The existing method, involving internal transport to external warehouses, proves to be economically advantageous, especially when considering contracted costs for external warehouses and other project-related expenses for the year 2023. It is worth noting that the economic data for an alternative solution from a potential 3PL provider applies to the year 2025. To understand possible changes in costs over time, considerations have been made for the potential increase in costs for the existing method. The discussion also includes environmental aspects, where different solutions are considered to identify the most sustainable and profitable strategy for Essity's logistics. Solution 2, involving the construction of a new warehouse (green warehouse) and the use of electric vehicles and HVO-driven trucks, presents itself as a sustainable approach that can reduce CO2 emissions and contribute to Essity's overall goal of reducing environmental impact. Recommendations for Essity – Based on the results of the analysis, Essity is recommended to conduct a more in-depth benchmarking to explore offerings from other potential 3PL providers. Negotiations with the current external warehouse to improve the price structure should be considered, especially considering the significant total costs for both solutions. Finally, Essity should contemplate making a strategic investment in building an expanded manual warehouse near the existing one, enabling increased flexibility and cost-effectiveness over time.

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