This thesis examines the evolutionary biology of the RNA viruses, a diverse group of pathogens that cause significant diseases. The focus of this work is the relationship between the processes driving the evolution of virus populations within individual hosts and at the epidemic level. First, Chapter One reviews the basic biology of RNA viruses, the current state of knowledge in relevant topics of evolutionary virology, and the principles that underlie the most commonly used methods in this thesis. In Chapter Two, I develop and test a novel framework to estimate the significance of phylogeny-trait association in viral phylogenies. The method incorporates phylogenetic uncertainty through the use of posterior sets of trees (PST) produced in Bayesian MCMC analyses. In Chapter Three, I conduct a comprehensive analysis of the substitution rate of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in within- and between-host data sets using a relaxed molecular clock. I find that within-host substitution rates are more rapid than previously appreciated, that heterotachy is rife in within-host data sets, and that selection is likely to be a primary driver. In Chapter Four I apply the techniques developed in Chapter Two to successfully detect compartmentalization between peripheral blood and cervical tissues in a large data set of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients. I propose that compartmentalization in the cervix is maintained by selection. I extend the framework developed in Chapter Two in Chapter Five and explore the Type II error of the statistics used. In Chapter Six I review the findings of this thesis and conclude with a general discussion of the relationship between within- and among-host evolution in viruses, and some of the limitations of current techniques.

DNA sequence alignments are usually not homogeneous. Mosaic structures may result as a consequence of recombination or rate heterogeneity. Interspecific recombination, in which DNA subsequences are transferred between different (typically viral or bacterial) strains may result in a change of the topology of the underlying phylogenetic tree. Rate heterogeneity corresponds to a change of the nucleotide substitution rate. Various methods for simultaneously detecting recombination and rate heterogeneity in DNA sequence alignments have recently been proposed, based on complex probabilistic models that combine phylogenetic trees with factorial hidden Markov models or multiple changepoint processes. The objective of my thesis is to identify potential shortcomings of these models and explore ways of how to improve them. One shortcoming that I have identified is related to an approximation made in various recently proposed Bayesian models. The Bayesian paradigm requires the solution of an integral over the space of parameters. To render this integration analytically tractable, these models assume that the vectors of branch lengths of the phylogenetic tree are independent among sites. While this approximation reduces the computational complexity considerably, I show that it leads to the systematic prediction of spurious topology changes in the Felsenstein zone, that is, the area in the branch lengths configuration space where maximum parsimony consistently infers the wrong topology due to long-branch attraction. I demonstrate these failures by using two Bayesian hypothesis tests, based on an inter- and an intra-model approach to estimating the marginal likelihood. I then propose a revised model that addresses these shortcomings, and demonstrate its improved performance on a set of synthetic DNA sequence alignments systematically generated around the Felsenstein zone. The core model explored in my thesis is a phylogenetic factorial hidden Markov model (FHMM) for detecting two types of mosaic structures in DNA sequence alignments, related to recombination and rate heterogeneity. The focus of my work is on improving the modelling of the latter aspect. Earlier research efforts by other authors have modelled different degrees of rate heterogeneity with separate hidden states of the FHMM. Their work fails to appreciate the intrinsic difference between two types of rate heterogeneity: long-range regional effects, which are potentially related to differences in the selective pressure, and the short-term periodic patterns within the codons, which merely capture the signature of the genetic code. I have improved these earlier phylogenetic FHMMs in two respects. Firstly, by sampling the rate vector from the posterior distribution with RJMCMC I have made the modelling of regional rate heterogeneity more flexible, and I infer the number of different degrees of divergence directly from the DNA sequence alignment, thereby dispensing with the need to arbitrarily select this quantity in advance. Secondly, I explicitly model within-codon rate heterogeneity via a separate rate modification vector. In this way, the within-codon effect of rate heterogeneity is imposed on the model a priori, which facilitates the learning of the biologically more interesting effect of regional rate heterogeneity a posteriori. I have carried out simulations on synthetic DNA sequence alignments, which have borne out my conjecture. The existing model, which does not explicitly include the within-codon rate variation, has to model both effects with the same modelling mechanism. As expected, it was found to fail to disentangle these two effects. On the contrary, I have found that my new model clearly separates within-codon rate variation from regional rate heterogeneity, resulting in more accurate predictions.

Svenska myndigheter och kommuner arbetar utifrån miljökvalitetsmålet Giftfri miljö med att minska användning och exponering för hälso- och miljöskadliga ämnen (Miljömål, 2016). På delegation från regeringen har Kemikalieinspektionen upprättat en handlingsplan för att nå miljömålet. Handlingsplanens fokus riktas till stor del mot kemikalier i barns vardag. Gävle kommun är i uppstartsfasen av arbetet inom förskolor, för att fortsätta arbetet strukturerat och med god prioritering så bör ett utgångsläge med riskområden inom förskolan identifieras. I det här examens arbetet inom miljöteknik genomförs en inventering av Kemikaliesmart förskola där 19 kommunala förskolor i Gävle kommun, med målet att identifiera riskområden och barns utsatthet för kemikalier i förskolan. Ett samarbete med Utbildning Gävles miljöstrateg har givit kontaktnät och ekonomisk möjlighet för personal vid de enskilda förskolorna att medverka under inventeringen. Den färdiga rapporten lämnas till verksamheten att använda som underlag vid prioriteringar i arbetet med kemikaliesmart förskola. Genomförandet sker med en befintlig mall från Naturskyddsföreningen som grund (Naturskyddsföreningen, 2013). Inventeringen görs i två etapper, en intervju inför inventeringen och inventering av lösöre och till viss del byggnadstekniska detaljer som golv- och väggytor. Inventeringen av lösöre består av cirka 100 frågor som ställs och undersöks vid varje förskola, de sammanfattas i tabellformat med beskrivande text. Därifrån lyfts eventuella riskområden, som stödjs genom underlag från Svenska myndigheter eller forskning. Diskussionen påvisar svårigheter som uppstår vid val av produkter då innehållsförteckningar är svåra att tyda eller obefintliga. Men också hur rutiner kring städ, tvätt och vädring kan påverka inom de identifierade riskområden. Riskområden som enligt mål och slutsats identifierats är skildrade genom typ av skadligt ämne eller negativ hälsopåverkan. Identifieringen gav sex olika områden: Flamskydds-, vatten- och fläckavvisande medel, Kemikalier från plast, Allergiframkallande ämnen, Polycykliska aromatiska kolväten, Bly och Kvicksilver. För dessa områden redogörs vilka typer av produkterkategorier som är berörda och vilken typ av hälsorisk de innebär. / Swedish authorities and municipalities are working on the basis of the environmental quality objective non-toxic environment by reducing the use and exposure to health and environmental pollutants (Miljömål, 2016). The Swedish Chemicals Agency, on commission by the government, has drawn up an action plan to achieve the environmental objective. The Action Plan's focus is mainly on achieving a non-toxic everyday environment for children. Thru identication of riskareas, the preschools in Gävle will be able to get a good structure for the work to be done. In this diploma work in Environmental technology an inventory of Chemical Smart preschools is conducted. Nineteen municipal kindergartens in the city of Gävle are examined, with the goal of identifying areas of risk and vulnerability of children to chemicals in the preschool environment. A collaboration with the department of Education Gävle ́s environmental strategist has provided contacts and economic opportunity for the staff at the individual preschools to participate during the inventory. The final report is submitted to the department and its preschools to use as the basis of the priorities in the work of chemical smart preschool. The implementation is done with an existing template from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (Naturskyddsföreningen, 2013). The inventory is made in two stages, an interview before the inventory and inventory of chattels and some architectural details such as floor and wall surfaces. The inventory of chattels consists of approximately 100 questions asked and examined at each nursery, they are summarized in table format with descriptive text. Areas of risk are identified based on supported data from Swedish authorities or research in the subjected area. The discussion demonstrates the difficulties that arise in the choice of products when the contents are difficult to decipher or inaccessible. But also how the routines for cleaning, washing and airing can influence the identified risk areas. Risk areas according to the objectives and conclusions identified are depicted by type of substance or negative health effects. The identification gave six different areas: Flameproof, water and stain repellents, Chemicals from plastics, allergens, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, lead and mercury. These areas outline the types of product categories that are of concern and what kind of health risk they entail.

There is an increasing interest in within-group agreement in organizations, in response to evidence that agreement is predictive of various outcomes of interest. The model in this study suggests that within-group agreement on perceptions of the work environment is predicted indirectly by the quality of exchange relationships, specifically team-member exchange (TMX), leader-member exchange (LMX), social interaction and work interdependence, through the mediation of social influence, and directly by demographic homogeneity. Chan's (1998) typology of composition models was used to appropriately conceptualize the variables at the group level.Results suggest that average high quality LMX relationships are predictive of within-group agreement, and that high quality relationships within the team are predictive of perceptions of social influence within the team. The mediation model was non-significant, and contrary to existing literature, social interaction and work interdependence were not significantly related to any of the other variables in the model.Demographic homogeneity was related to both perceptions of social influence and to within-group agreement on perceptions of the work environment in the opposite direction from that hypothesized. Post-hoc analyses suggest that organizational cultural orientation (collectivist or individualist) may moderate the relationship between demographic homogeneity and within-group agreement on perceptions of the work environment.

AND KEY WORDS: Mergers within a group of companies can be divided into three basic variants: a company mergers into its shareholder (up-stream merger), a shareholder-legal entity mergers into its company (down-stream merger), a company mergers into other company given that both companies have at least shareholder in common (merger of sister companies). Capital interconnection of companies makes these mergers to be special and requires a specific regulation. The present regulation of mergers of companies has particular weak points, the gravest is the fact, that the Act on Transformations does not take into account the specifics of the mergers within a group of companies. This entails that in some cases the word-to-word application of the Act on Transformations can lead to harming of shareholders and creditors of the companies participating on the merger. In some cases it leads to an absurd duty to file an application for dissolving of the company while the general meeting is convoked to approve the project of merger. The thesis is dedicated exclusively to the capital aspects of mergers. Therefore I deal with the issues of the amount of the capital stock in the succession company pursuant to the Act on Transformations. I elaborate why it is not possible to apply word-to-word the law on the maximum...

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Entomology / James F. Campbell / Thomas W. Phillips / Movement is a fundamental feature of animals that impacts processes across multiple scales in space and time. Due to the heterogeneous and fragmented nature of habitats that make up landscapes, movement is not expected to be random in all instances, and an increase in fitness is an expected consequence for those that can optimize movement to find valuable and scarce recourses. I studied the movement of Rhyzopertha dominica (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae), one of the most important pests of stored grain worldwide, within and between resource patches. At a fine spatial scale, I identified factors that contribute to overall and upward movement in the grain mass. Three-week-old insects tented to stay closer to the surface than one or two-week-old insects. Females tended to be more active and to explore more than males. I also found that males tended to stay closer to the surface than females and that might be related to the ability to attract females from outside the patch since there was no significant difference regarding female’s attraction within the grain patch. Interaction with feeding sites or other individuals of the same sex creates positive feedback and a more clumped spatial pattern of feeding and foraging behavior. On the other hand, interaction with individuals of different sex creates negative feedback and a more random or overdispersed pattern. At a broad spatial scale, I studied the long-term consequence of R. dominica movement on the development of population structure within the U.S. To evaluate population structure, I used reduced representation of the genome followed by direct sequencing of beetles collected from different locations across the U.S where wheat or rice is produced and stored. Ecoregions were more important in explaining structure of R. dominica populations than crop type. I also found significant isolation by distance; however, model selection primarily elected grain production and movement variables to explain population differentiation and diversity. Understanding animal movement is essential to establishing relationships between distribution and surrounding landscape, and this knowledge can improve conservation and management strategies.

AbstractThe subject of gamification is a relatively new and novel concept when it comes to stimulating behavior. Gamification is the use of game elements in a non-game context. Gamification is a tool that can motivate people to engage with activities related to health, education and personal productivity. Gamification can be used in a plethora of areas, and business and organizational contexts are no exception.This study investigates how gamification and the use of game elements in an organizational context influence internal marketing activities. Internal marketing is a management philosophy that explores how to treat employees as internal customers to increase the quality of service. This study investigates how gamification and game elements can help accomplishing this goal through influencing internal marketing activities. The study answers the following research question:The purpose of the study is to investigate how gamification and game elements of an app influence internal marketing activities. The app we are investigating was developed by Volvo Group for their employee ambassador program, called #WeAreVolvoGroup. The app is the context which is being investigated as it contains elements of gamification. A conceptual framework has been developed containing game elements as an influence on seven internal marketing activities, which are job product development, employee recruitment, training and education, motivation and reward, internal market research, internal communication, and retention of staff.A qualitative study was conducted by interviewing managers and users of the app, #WeAreVolvoGroup. By using the thematic analysis, the results were presented and combined into themes that were further analyzed and connected to the conceptual framework. The conceptual framework was revised by retracting internal marketing activities that the app did not contribute to, which were job product development, employee recruitment, training and education, and retention of staff, and adding additional factors that the app contributes to. The findings of this study demonstrate that gamification influences the internal marketing activities that were present in the app listed as motivation and reward, internal communication, and internal market research, as well as additional factors which was company culture and personal branding. Our findings showed that the gamification and game elements of the app influenced these activities

Les lymphocytes T CD8 sont des acteurs clés de l'immunité adaptative, impliqués dans la lutte contre les pathogènes intracellulaires et les cellules tumorales. En outre, les lymphocytes T CD8 sont capables, lors d’une réponse primaire, de se différencier en cellules mémoires capables de se maintenir dans l’organisme et de le protéger efficacement contre une nouvelle rencontre avec ces dangers. Ceci est permis grâce à leurs fonctions effectrices améliorées, leur plus grand potentiel prolifératif et leur capacité à migrer dans les tissus non-lymphoïdes, des propriétés toutes trois régulées au niveau moléculaire par le cytosquelette d'actine.            Récemment, notre équipe a montré que pleckstrin, un gène impliqué dans la régulation du cytosquelette d'actine, était fortement exprimé dans les lymphocytes T CD8 mémoires (générés suite à une infection virale), par comparaison avec des cellules T CD8 naïves. Grâce à des expériences d'infection par le virus de la Vaccine in vivo, nous avons pu mettre en évidence que l'absence de pleckstrin n'altère pas les fonctions effectrices des lymphocytes T CD8 (i. e. cytotoxicité et production de cytokines). En revanche, pleckstrin semble nécessaire à la génération des lymphocytes T CD8 mémoires et à leur localisation au sein des tissus infectés.            Ces travaux de recherche apportent ainsi un regard nouveau sur les mécanismes cellulaires et moléculaires impliqués dans la mise en place d'un compartiment T CD8 mémoire au sein des tissus non-lymphoïdes. / CD8 T cells are key players of adaptive immunity, and are involved in the elimination of intracellular pathogens and cancer cells. During a primary immune response, memory CD8 T cells are generated, and are able to maintain long-term and protect efficiently the organism against a secondary encounter with these threats. Indeed, memory CD8 T cells mediate durable protection through enhanced effector functions, increased proliferative capacity and distinct migratory behaviors, three processes that are tightly regulated by actin cytoskeleton.            Recently, the laboratory has shown that pleckstrin, a gene involved in actin cytoskeleton, is highly up-regulated in pathogen-induced memory CD8 T cells compared to naïve cells. Using pleckstrin deficient CD8 T cells, we show in an in vivo model of Vaccinia virus infection that pleckstrin deficiency does not affect global CD8 functions, in terms of cytokine production and cytotoxicity. However, pleckstrin is required for the optimal generation and localization of memory CD8 T cells within infected tissues.            As a whole, this work gives new insight into the molecular and cellular mechanisms that allow the establishment of a memory CD8 T cell compartment within non-lymphoid tissues.

The aim of this essay was to study how social workers work with clients who suffer from addiction problems. The study enlightens how the legal framework concerning the legislation of social services can be seen as either a possibility or restriction in terms of processing social welfare. Furthermore the purpose with the study was to examine what demands that are set at clients with addiction problems. To work with the clients motivation is a reacurring theme that contains both social workers latitude and the demands that are made on the clients. The empirical data is based on interviews with four social workers within the administration of social welfare in commune X. The data in the study was transcribed and organized to be able to analyze. The outcome of the study shows that the legislation fills a fundamental importance in the daily work of the social workers. This is set into seeing that the assignments in the daily work of the social workers appear to be relatively complex. It is shown to be clear that the legislation entails problems regarding differences in the social workers decision making which can raise dissatisfaction among the clients. Additionally, the result in the studie shows the importance of good relations between social workers and clients to promote the work and use the good prerequisites. Consequently, the study does also illuminate some positive aspects in relation to the social workers ability, within their authority, making individual assessment.

Studien syftade till att belysa vad socialsekreterare anser vara avgörande för beslutet att placera barn inom nätverket. Fem socialsekreterare på socialtjänstens enhet för barn och unga runt om i Sverige intervjuades i en kvalitativ intervjustudie. Den tematiska analysen visade att det saknas specifika riktlinjer för nätverksplacering men att man uttrycker sig ha ett nätverksorienterat arbetssätt, vilket i studien analyseras utifrån systemteori. Faktorer som avgör beslutet att placera barn inom nätverket visar sig vara bland annat, orsak till placering, nätverkets egenskaper och arbetsbelastning. Barn bedöms enligt socialsekreterarna inte ha förmåga att på grund av lojalitet till föräldrarna välja vart de ska placeras, vilket påverkar barns delaktighet i utredningen. Placering av barn inom nätverket visas vara ovanligt och det nätverksorienterade arbetet försvåras på grund av organisatoriska hinder. Resultatet visar att nätverksplacering är att föredra då både barn, föräldrar och socialsekreterare känner sig mer trygga än vid placering i främmande familjehem. / This study aims to highlight what social workers consider to be crucial for placement within network care. The study was conduted with qualitative interviews with five social workers at the social services in Sweden. The thematic analysis showed that there are no specific guidelines for network-oriented work but social workers nevertheless state that their mode of operation is network-oriented based on system theory. Factors that determine placement within network care are; reason for placement, network characteristics and workload. The study shows that children are not expected to be able to choose their placement due to loyalty to their parents and this affects children ́s participation in the investigation. Placement of children within network care appears unusual and network-oriented work is complicated due to organizational barriers. The result shows that preferred placement is within network care as both children, parents and social workers feel more secure compared to placement in foster care.