Under de senaste 20 åren har värdet på de svenska privata hushållens bostadslån ökat med i genomsnitt 8,1 % per år. Som en konsekvens av att bostadspriserna ökat i högre takt än inflationen har hushållen tvingats belåna sig i en högre grad, vilket bidragit till att både skuldkvoten och belåningsgraden ökat. Hushållen har på grund av detta blivit mer exponerade för risker i form av ränteförändringar eller i form av bostadsbubblor. Ett bostadslån är för majoriteten av den svenska befolkningen den största och mest riskfyllda investering som görs under dess livstid och kan ge bekymmersamma konsekvenser vid fel beslut. Vid ett bolån står låntagaren inför ett val mellan rörlig och bunden ränta, där den bundna räntan ses som det säkra valet. Bolånetagare kan också välja att dela upp ränta med en del rörlig och en del bunden ränta vilket då kan tolkas som ett säkrare val än rörlig ränta men mer osäkert än bunden ränta. Tidigare forskning konstaterar dock att många bolånetagare har svårt att förstå risken och följden av valen mellan olika räntebindningstider och på grund av komplexiteten med räntor inte fatta rationella beslut. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur vissa utvalda faktorer påverkar valet mellan bunden och rörlig räntebindningstid och koppla detta till ekonomiska teorier. Studien använder sig av en multinomial logistisk regression och faktorerna som analyseras är: ålder, låneobjektet, belåningsgraden, skuldkvoten, inkomsten, antalet låntagare i hushållet, räntedifferensen (mellan rörlig och bunden 2 år) och förändringar under pandemin covid-19 under perioden 2016 - 2021.  Resultatet av studien är av intresse för både svenska beslutsfattare och banker, då resultatet visar vad som driver bolånetagare riskexponering. Vidare konstaterar studien att bolånetagarna har en minskad riskaversion med en ökad förmögenhet, samt att bolånetagare med högst skuldkvot och belåningsgrad är de hushåll som väljer rörlig ränta i högst utsträckning. Där med konstaterar studien att de svenska bolånetagare som är mest exponerade för risk också är de bolånetagare som i lägst utsträckning binder sin ränta och är där med mest risksökande i deras val av ränta. / Over the past 20 years, the value of Swedish private households' housing loans has increased by an average of 8.1% per year. Because of house prices rising at a higher rate than inflation, households have been forced to borrow to a greater extent, which has contributed to an increase in both the debt-to-income ratio and the loan-to-value ratio. As a result, households have become more exposed to risks, as interest rate changes or housing bubbles. For most of the Swedish population, a housing loan is the largest and most risky investment made during its lifetime and can have worrying consequences in the event of a wrong decision. In the case of a mortgage, the borrower is faced with a choice between variable and fixed interest rates, where the fixed loan is seen as the safe choice. Mortgage borrowers can also choose to divide interest with some variable and some fixed interest, which can then be interpreted as a safer choice than variable interest but more uncertain than fixed interest. Previous research finds, however, that many mortgage borrowers find it difficult to understand the risk and consequences of the choices between different fixed interest periods and, due to the complexity of interest rates, do not make rational decisions.  The purpose of the study is to investigate what influences the choice between fixed and variable interest rate periods and link this to economic theories. The study uses a multinomial logistical regression, and the factors analyzed are age, loan object, loan-to-value ratio, debt ratio, income, number of borrowers in the household, the interest rate differential (between variable and fixed rate 2 years), and changes during the covid-19 pandemic during the period 2016 - 2021.  The results of the study are of interest to both Swedish decision-makers and mortgage banks, as the results show what drives mortgage borrowers' risk exposure. Furthermore, the study states that mortgage borrowers have decreased risk aversion with increased wealth and that mortgage borrowers with the highest debt ratio and loan-to-value ratio are the households that choose variable interest rates to the greatest extent. Thus, the study states that the Swedish mortgage borrowers who are most exposed to risk are also the mortgage borrowers who to the least extent tie their interest rate, consequently, mortgage borrowers with the highest loan-to-value ratio are also the most risk-seeking group in their choice of interest rate.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 2017-2018 Research and Graduate Affairs Committee (RGAC) was given three charges aimed at helping academic pharmacy address barriers that must be overcome by both students and schools to attract, retain, and support the development of a diverse, well-rounded, and successful graduate student population. These charges were (1) identifying teaching methodologies, tools and opportunities that graduate programs can introduce into curriculum to overcome barriers to success of today's and tomorrow's learners; (2) developing a strategy for achieving member support of the 2016-2017 recommended graduate competencies by identifying gaps in and existing examples of courses or opportunities that achieve competency-based pharmacy graduate education; and (3) identifying potential strategies to address identified barriers to pursuing graduate education, especially among under-represented student populations. This report describes attitudes toward and opportunities related to competency-based education in graduation education in colleges and schools of pharmacy, identifies types of tools schools could use to enhance training towards the competency framework developed by the 2016-2017 RGAC, particularly with regards to the so-called power skills, and outlines a role for AACP in facilitating this training. This report also considers a number of barriers, both perceived and real, that potential students encounter when considering graduate training and suggests strategies to understand the impact of and mitigate these barriers. To strengthen competency-based graduate education, the RGAC puts forth two recommendations that AACP develop a toolkit supporting the training of power skills and that AACP should develop or curate programs or tools to support the use of individual development plans (IDPs). The RGAC also puts forth a suggestion to schools that IDPs be implemented for all students. In considering the barriers to pursuing graduate education, the Committee proposes one policy statement that AACP supports the training and development of an increasingly diverse population of researchers at pharmacy schools through active efforts to promote M.S. and Ph.D. education along with Pharm.D. education. Additionally, the Committee provides recommendations that AACP should expand its efforts in career tracking of graduate students to include collection and/or analysis of data that could inform the Academy's understanding of barriers to pursuing graduate education in pharmacy schools, the AACP Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness should expand upon graduate program data described in the annual Profile of Pharmacy Students report, and finally that AACP should include graduate programs in efforts to increase diversity of students at pharmacy schools.

Many of the world’s lakes are located at high latitudes in the northern hemisphere where seasonal ice cover is common. The ice restricts lake-atmosphere gas exchange, causing an under-ice accumulation of CO2. However, there are few spatial under-ice CO2 studies of river influence on lakes. Here, I examine the river plume of a river-influenced bay and compare it to a control bay without river influence in lake Örträsk, a humic of 7 km2 lake in boreal Sweden. There was no relationship between CO2 or DIC and distance from the Vargån river outlet in Vargån bay, even though the CO2 and DIC concentration of the river was found lower in Vargån river (median CO2: 53,2 µM; DIC: 178 µM) than in Vargån bay (median CO2: 84,7 µM; DIC: 301 µM). The median values of the control bay were CO2: 92,7 µM and DIC: 345 µM. There was a negative relationship in CO2 concentration with distance in the control bay, but not in DIC. The control bay had a higher concentration of CO2 at 0-60 m distance than Vargån bay, but there was no difference at 70-180 m. The DIC concentration was higher in the control bay than in Vargån bay. I have reported lower CO2 and DIC concentrations in the river than in the lake, which is not in accordance with literature and is probably due to an earlier ice-melt in the river than in the lake. The negative CO2 relationship in the control bay is likely due to sediment respiration.

Background Malaria is a major threat to global public health, with adverse health effects. Nigeria alone accounts for 25% of the global burden of malaria. Children are especially vulnerable to malaria, and if the disease is not treated it could have fatal consequences. Mothers have an important role in ensuring that adequate and timely treatment is given to the child. Aim The aim of this study was to investigate whether there was an association between maternal level of education and the treatment with antimalarial drugs in malaria positive children under-5 in Nigeria. Methods This study was a cross-sectional study that utilized Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data from the 2015 Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey. Data on 2’622 malaria positive children were used, and a logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the association with maternal level of education. Results The mothers with a higher level of education had two times higher odds (OR 2.31, CI 1.62- 3.32) of making sure their child received treatment with antimalarial drugs, compared to the mothers with no education. With an increase of 38% (OR 1.38, CI 1.11-1.71) in the odds for the child receiving treatment with antimalarial drugs if the mother has primary education and an increase of 51% (OR 1.51, CI 1.24-1.84) if the mother has secondary education compared to mothers with no education. Conclusion Mothers with a higher level of education waere more likely to make sure that their child received treatment with antimalarial drugs, compared to the mothers with no education.

Les problèmes de décision séquentielle dans l’incertain requièrent qu’un agent prenne des décisions, les unes après les autres, en fonction de l’état de l’environnement dans lequel il se trouve. Dans la plupart des travaux, l’environnement dans lequel évolue l’agent est supposé stationnaire, c’est-à-dire qu’il n’évolue pas avec le temps. Toute- fois, l’hypothèse de stationnarité peut ne pas être vérifiée quand, par exemple, des évènements exogènes au problème interviennent. Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons à la prise de décision séquentielle dans des environnements non-stationnaires. Nous proposons un nouveau modèle appelé HS3MDP permettant de représenter les problèmes non-stationnaires dont les dynamiques évoluent parmi un ensemble fini de contextes. Afin de résoudre efficacement ces problèmes, nous adaptons l’algorithme POMCP aux HS3MDP. Dans le but d’apprendre les dynamiques des problèmes de cette classe, nous présentons RLCD avec SCD, une méthode utilisable sans connaître à priori le nombre de contextes. Nous explorons ensuite le domaine de l’argumentation où peu de travaux se sont intéressés à la décision séquentielle. Nous étudions deux types de problèmes : les débats stochastiques (APS ) et les problèmes de médiation face à des agents non-stationnaires (DMP). Nous présentons dans ce travail un modèle formalisant les APS et permettant de les transformer en MOMDP afin d’optimiser la séquence d’arguments d’un des agents du débat. Nous étendons cette modélisation aux DMP afin de permettre à un médiateur de répartir stratégiquement la parole dans un débat. / In sequential decision-making problems under uncertainty, an agent makes decisions, one after another, considering the current state of the environment where she evolves. In most work, the environment the agent evolves in is assumed to be stationary, i.e., its dynamics do not change over time. However, the stationarity hypothesis can be invalid if, for instance, exogenous events can occur. In this document, we are interested in sequential decision-making in non-stationary environments. We propose a new model named HS3MDP, allowing us to represent non-stationary problems whose dynamics evolve among a finite set of contexts. In order to efficiently solve those problems, we adapt the POMCP algorithm to HS3MDPs. We also present RLCD with SCD, a new method to learn the dynamics of the environments, without knowing a priori the number of contexts. We then explore the field of argumentation problems, where few works consider sequential decision-making. We address two types of problems: stochastic debates (APS ) and mediation problems with non-stationary agents (DMP). In this work, we present a model formalizing APS and allowing us to transform them into an MOMDP in order to optimize the sequence of arguments of one agent in the debate. We then extend this model to DMPs to allow a mediator to strategically organize speak-turns in a debate.

Reinforcement learning techniques offer a very powerful method of finding solutions in unpredictable problem environments where human supervision is not possible. However, in many real world situations, the state space needed to represent the solutions becomes so large that using these methods becomes infeasible. Often the vast majority of these states are not valuable in finding the optimal solution. This work introduces a novel method of using linear programming to identify and represent the small area of the state space that is most likely to lead to a near-optimal solution, significantly reducing the memory requirements and time needed to arrive at a solution. An empirical study is provided to show the validity of this method with respect to a specific problem in vehicle dispatching. This study demonstrates that, in problems that are too large for a traditional reinforcement learning agent, this new approach yields solutions that are a significant improvement over other nonlearning methods. In addition, this new method is shown to be robust to changing conditions both during training and execution. Finally, some areas of future work are outlined to introduce how this new approach might be applied to additional problems and environments.

Severe disturbances in a large electrical interconnection cause a large mismatch in generation and load in the network, leading to frequency instability. If the mismatch is not rectified quickly, the system may disintegrate into multiple islands. Though the Automatic Generation Controls (AGC) perform well in correcting frequency deviation over a period of minutes, they are ineffective during a rolling blackout. While traditional Under Frequency Load Shedding Schemes (UFLS) perform quick control actions to arrest frequency decline in an islanded network, they are not designed to prevent unplanned islanding. The proposed Intelligent Load Shedding algorithm combines the effectiveness of AGC Scheme by observing tie line flows and the speed of operation of the UFLS Scheme by shedding loads intelligently, to preserve system integrity in the event of an evolving cascading failure. The proposed scheme detects and estimates the size of an event by monitoring the tie lines of a control area using Wide Area Measurement Systems (WAMS) and initiates load shedding by removing loads whose locations are optimally determined by a sensitivity analysis. The amount and location of the load shedding depends on the location and size of the initiating event, making the proposed algorithm adaptive and selective. Case Studies have been presented to show that control actions of the proposed scheme can directly mitigate a cascading blackout. / Ph. D.

Bakgrund: Längdskidåkning är en sport med hög förekomst av överbelastningsskador i ländryggen. Anledningarna till besvärens uppkomst har diskuterats frekvent och flera faktorer har setts spela in. Att variera träningen har setts vara viktigt, inte minst under uppväxten, för att undvika skador längre upp i åldrarna.  Syfte: Att undersöka förekomsten av upplevda ländryggsbesvär de senaste 12 månaderna hos elever på längdskidgymnasium i Sverige. Studien undersökte även skillnader i träningsminuter och träningsvariation under åldern 10–12 år mellan elever utan ländryggsbesvär och elever med lindriga–svåra ländryggsbesvär. Metod: En deskriptiv jämförande tvärsnittsstudie gjordes där 11 av Sveriges 12 längdskidgymnasium deltog. Antalet studiedeltagare var 147, vilket motsvarade en svarsfrekvens på 46%. Könsfördelningen var 52,4% kvinnor och 47,6% män. En webbenkät besvarades angående ländryggsbesvär de senaste 12 månaderna baserat på frågeformuläret Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ). Även frågor gällande träning under åldern 10–12 och ländryggsbesvär under längdskidåkning besvarades. Utifrån svaren delades deltagarna in i grupper baserade på besvärsgrad.  Resultat: Förekomsten av ländryggsbesvär senaste 12 månaderna var 50,3%. Det fanns inga signifikanta skillnader gällande träningsminuter under uppväxten mellan grupperna “ej besvär” och “måttliga-svåra besvär” respektive “ej besvär” och “besvär”. Slutsats: Studiens resultat kunde bekräfta en hög förekomst av ländryggsbesvär hos längdskidgymnasieelever. Inga skillnader sågs i träningen under uppväxten mellan de med respektive utan besvär. Fler faktorer spelar in och vidare studier krävs för att få klarhet i varför besvären uppstår i en så hög grad. / Background: Cross-country skiing have a high prevalence of overuse injuries mainly located at the lower back. Low back pain (LBP) is frequently discussed among cross-country skiers and several factors may cause the problem. A variation in training has been seen to be important, especially during childhood, to avoid overuse injuries in higher ages.  Objective: To investigate the prevalence of LBP for the past 12 months in Swedish high school students specialized at cross-country skiing. The study also investigated the differences in training minutes and the variation in training during age 10–12 years between students without LBP and students with mild to severe LBP. Method: A descriptive comparative cross-sectional study was made, 11 of the 12 cross-country ski high schools in Sweden participated. The response rate was 46% which corresponds 147 participants, 52,4% women and 47,6% men.  The participants answered a web survey with questions regarding LBP the last 12 months and training during childhood. Groups based on the severity of LBP was formed.  Results: The prevalence of LBP the last 12 months was 50,3%. There were no significant differences regarding training in the age of 10–12 years between the groups. Conclusion: The study confirms that the prevalence of LBP is high in high school students specialized at cross-country skiing. No differences were found regarding training during childhood between the groups. More factors may affect the problem and further research is needed.

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