Högskolan i Skövde

Aim: The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with dog-related injuries by analysing data collected from 5908 patients seeking treatment at healthcare facilities in Skaraborg district, Sweden, over the years 2001–2016.

Methods: To describe factors associated with dog-related injuries, we analysed variables from four categories: people, that is, characteristics (gender and ages) of the patients who were injured; the circumstances in which the injuries occurred; the causes and types of injuries caused by dogs (injury mechanisms); and whether the injuries resulted in hospitalisation.

Results: Most injuries occurred in residential settings (58%). Half of the reported injuries (n=2954) were due to dog bites, with the same number of patients who were injured in non-bite-related events, comprising a second group. Injury mechanisms for dog-related injuries other than bites varied, as did locations where the various injuries occurred. However, slightly more than half of all non-bite-related injuries were caused by falls, especially falls on the same level involving slips and trips (n= 831, 55.3% of all fall-related injuries). Dog bites were the primary injury cause for younger groups, while non-bite injuries were the leading injury cause for adults aged 45 years and older.

Conclusions: The study showed that men and younger age groups were more likely to be injured via dog bites, while older women were more likely to be injured by tripping or falling over dogs. These findings imply that separate injury prevention strategies are required to address the different factors associated with both injury types.

Detta examensarbete undersöker hur en uttjänt möbel kan ges en förlängd livscykel genom återbruk av material och re-design. Utgångspunkten är Lundbergs Möblers bordsmodell Sarek, vars material återanvänds för att utveckla en ny produkt inom segmentet kantinbord. Målet är att skapa en cirkulär process där minst 80% av den nya möbeln består av återtaget material.

Arbetet har genomförts med en projektanpassad modell av designprocessen Double Diamond, bestående av faserna Utforska, Definiera, Utveckla och Leverera. Metodiken har inkluderat litteraturstudier, marknadsanalys, funktions- och målanalys, intervjuer med företagsrepresentanter och externa aktörer samt konceptutveckling. Vidare har verifiering skett genom hållfasthetsberäkningar, återkoppling från Lundbergs Möbler och användare, samt en analys av det nya bordets livscykel. Fokus har legat på design för demontering, återtillverkning och framtida rekonditionering.

Resultaten visar att återbruk av material från Sarek-bordet är tekniskt genomförbart och kan resultera i en ny möbel med bibehållen funktion och estetik. Den framtagna designen möjliggör framtida rekonditionering och återtillverkning, vilket stärker företagets cirkulära affärsmodell. En jämförande livscykelanalys indikerar dessutom en reducerad klimatpåverkan jämfört med nyproduktion.

Slutsatsen är att cirkulär möbeldesign, genom materialåterbruk och re-design, kan bidra till minskad resursförbrukning och klimatpåverkan samtidigt som ekonomiskt och funktionellt värde skapas för både tillverkare och användare. Arbetet visar hur befintliga produkter kan utgöra en strategisk resurs i övergången från linjära till cirkulära möbelflöden.

This report studies automated visual inspection for battery assembly using three deep learning methods with different strengths: a supervised object detector (YOLOv7), a reconstruction-based autoencoder, and EfficientAD. A common pipeline was used to ensure a fair comparison. All images were resized to 256 × 256, normalised, and augmented using brightness changes, flips, colour variations, and mild geometric transforms. Performance was evaluated at the image level using precision, recall, F1 score, and ROC–AUC, supported by confusion matrices and visual heatmaps. Stress tests were also performed under changes in background, lighting, and cell orientation.The results show that YOLOv7 is effective for enforcing clear assembly rules such as component presence, count, and left–right terminal polarity, making it suitable for stop or rework decisions. The autoencoder provides clear heatmaps that highlight missing or extra structures and is useful for monitoring data drift, but it is sensitive to background and pose changes. EfficientAD achieves the best overall anomaly detection performance and robustly highlights both texture anomalies and spatial deviations. Although EfficientAD performs best in anomaly detection, it does not produce bounding-box outputs needed for explicit rule checking. Based on this, a layered inspection strategy is proposed: YOLOv7 is used for rule-based checks, EfficientAD acts as a high-sensitivity anomaly filter, and a lightweight autoencoder monitors data drift over time. This approach improves reliability and practical deployment in real battery production lines.

Background: Adolescents are growing up in a digital age, and it is common for them to have access to the internet. Social media use among adolescents has surged over the past twenty years. At the same time, there has been a rise in mental health issues among this age group. This qualitative systematic review aims to explore how digital media use influences adolescent mental health in a digitalized era.

Methods: A literature search was undertaken to locate articles published between January 2013 and November 2023 which examine the relationship between adolescents’ mental health and digitalization. A total of 384 full text articles were scanned for eligibility, of which 48 had a qualitative research design. 19 articles with a qualitative design were reviewed using thematic analysis.

Results: The findings of this study highlight the ways in which digital media use influences adolescent mental health. Four specific themes become visible through thematic analysis. Digital media use influences life circumstances by shaping daily activities and acting as a source of information and knowledge; it influences relationships with other individuals where mental health behaviors are simultaneously promoted and challenged in the digital interaction between adolescents; it influences individuals by supporting and challenging individuality and uniqueness while at the same time making individuals susceptible to anonymous and negative online scrutiny, harassment, and bullying; and finally, digital media use influences adolescents to construct strategies for good mental health in both online and offline settings.

Conclusion: Adolescents use digital media to manage their mood, create identities, and raise awareness on social issues, which can empower them and improve mental health. Digital media also has a negative impact on adolescents; it disrupts sleep and family time and contributes to a fear of missing out, body image issues, social comparison and cyberbullying. This qualitative systematic review highlights a need for future research into adolescent online strategies, how adults mediate digital media use and the role of digital industries in shaping behaviors. Teachers, parents, and health professionals can play an important role in supporting adolescents’ use of digital media in ways that promote their mental health.

This project explores how people understand a robot’s actions when it communicates only through its movements. In many human-robot collaborative settings, robots use lights, sounds, or displays to show their intentions. While these signals can be useful, they often distract from the natural way humans read meaning from motion. This study focuses on motion intent, i.e. the idea that the robot’s movements alone can express what it is about to do. Earlier research has concentrated on visual or audio signals, leaving motion intent less explored. This project addresses that gap by studying how people interpret different gripper motions, such as opening, closing, lifting, or rotating, when no other cues are given. A qualitative approach was used so that participants could describe what they thought each motion meant and how they felt about the robot’s behaviour. The goal is to understand how clear and natural robot motions can make collaboration safer, smoother, and easier to trust. By focusing on motion as the main form of communication, this work highlights how thoughtful movement design can help robots interact more intuitively with people in shared workplaces.

Goals are commonly recognized through their materialization in explicit statements. By applying a sociomaterial lens to the practice of goal formation, the scope of the analysis is widened beyond pre-defined social and material actors. Hence, considering also the mundane, presumed and overlooked spatial and material dimensions. Through observations of workshops in a home care service quality development initiative in a local Swedish government, it is shown how goals are in becoming and performatively configured given conditioned possibilities of material-discursive arrangements. This study contributes to IS research by demonstrating the applicability of a sociomaterial lens in understanding social phenomena. This is done by showing how goals are formed not only by what actors say and do, but also where, when, how and with what they do it. Through downplaying language and increasing tentativeness toward significant material dimensions, this study shows how goals can be perceived when not necessarily spoken or conscious.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can take Business Intelligence (BI) to the next level by empowering users in their daily decision-making tasks. Just like Self-Service Business Intelligence (SSBI), AI integrated business analytics comes with many benefits, but also with numerous implementation challenges. In fact, typical SSBI implementation challenges like data quality, data governance, and employee training are equally relevant when integrating AI. Hence, lessons learned from development of SSBI education could increase data literacy and AI literacy. Two case studies of SSBI education in large BI consultancy firms have identified five SSBI education steps: (1) increase the interest of using data; (2) introduce data to all users; (3) clean and define data to create standard reports; (4) develop SSBI data governance and (5) become self-reliant on accessing and using data. SSBI education can create a foundation that leads to being better prepared for the implementation and use of more advanced AI analytics.

Stilisering är ett visuellt fenom som beskrivs att vara ändring och manipulering av attribut för att avvika från realism. Stilisering kan befatta olika stilar och innefatta olika stiliserade attribut för att åstadkomma en sinnesstämning. Denna studie ämnar att undersöka hur stilisering i förhållande till rund, förenklad formgivning kan uppfattas. Därav har studien genomfört en kvalitativ undersökning varav artefakter har betraktats av deltagare. Artefakterna av den här studien har bestått av fyra 3D-modeller som befattade rund och förenklad formgivning. För att undersöka formgivning har endast siluetten av 3D-modellen betraktats. Fokusgrupper ansågs vara en lämplig metod för att samla data, därav har deltagarna av studien fått diskutera tolkningar och uppfattningar av 3D-modellerna. Den aktuella studien skulle kunna användas i utveckling av grafisk stil inom spel, speciellt inom stilisering.

This thesis examines the reconfigurability potential of high-volume engine-component production using simulation-based analysis and multi-objective optimisation. The cylinder block and cylinder head production lines at Aurobay Technologies were analysed as an industrial case, where a discrete-event simulation model was developed in FACTS Analyzer following a Design Science Methodology. The study compared the existing dedicated production layout with a reconfigured shared-flow alternative in which selected assembly and verification operations were integrated across both lines. Simulation-based multi-objective optimisation using NSGA-II was applied to explore trade-offs between throughput and lead time under realistic variations in processing times, buffer capacities, availability, and repair behaviour. The results show that the dedicated baseline layout dominates the reconfigured alternative across most of the industrial operating envelope. While the reconfigured layout achieves lower lead time in limited low-to-medium throughput regimes, it consistently exhibits reduced throughput potential and is strictly dominated by the baseline layout at higher throughput levels. Matched operating-point comparisons confirm that local lead-time improvements from reconfiguration are offset by coordination losses and contention at shared operations, particularly in the cylinder block line. Consequently, the optimisation results do not support claims of overall superiority of the reconfigured layout.The thesis presents a rigorous simulation-based evaluation of alternative production system configurations. The results clarify the conditions under which reconfigurable layouts enhance flow behaviour, as well as those in which dedicated configurations remain structurally superior. This contribution supports evidence-based decision-making without requiring physical experimentation.

Background: Obesity and mental health disorders often co-occur, contributingto individual suffering and healthcare costs. Diet plays a key role in both weight management and mental wellbeing and may influence these through its impact on the gut microbiota. However, the mechanisms linking diet, obesity, and mental health remain insufficiently understood.

Aim: We propose to conduct the MIND-GUT study in Sweden to evaluate feasibility as primary outcome (retention, adherence, and acceptability) of a 12-week dietary intervention based on the MIND diet and, as secondary outcomes, the influence of the latter on weight loss and mental wellbeing in adults with overweight and obesity [body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m²]. The study will also explore changes in gut microbiota composition and diversity.

Methods: In this randomized trial, 126 adults with obesity will be assigned to either an intervention group following a MIND diet or a control group receiving general dietary advice. Energy intake targets will be <2,300 kcal/dayfor men and <1,900 kcal/day for women. The primary outcomes are retention, adherence, and intervention acceptability (the latter assessed through qualitative interviews). Secondary outcomes include changes in body weight, BMI, waistand hip circumferences, fat mass, and mental health including perceived stress,depression, and anxiety symptoms. Gut microbiota diversity and composition will be analyzed from stool samples collected at baseline and 12-week follow-up.

Discussion: This study will offer valuable insights into the relationship between diet, mental health, obesity, and the gut microbiota. Results will inform the design of future large-scale trials assessing the MIND diet’s potential as a strategy for improving physical and mental health.

Anticipating the behavior of other road users is critical for safe driving. To anticipate the behavior of other road users in a timely manner, it is essential to recognize their intentions. Although artificial intelligence (AI)-based intention recognition systems for traffic scenarios have advanced significantly, their performance relative to human road user intention recognition (RUIR) remains largely unexplored. To address this gap, we conducted an experiment comparing the RUIR performance of human participants and a state-of-the-art end-to-end video recognition AI model on a set of 25 video scenarios. The selected scenarios offered a balanced representation of various road user types and a range of intention maneuvers. Among human participants (N=161), we found no statistically significant differences in RUIR performance with respect to age, self-perceived driving skill, annual driven kilometers, or years of driving experience. However, the average human participant exhibited slightly lower RUIR performance than the AI models.

With shorter product life cycles and increased competition, forecasting new product sales prior to launch is vital. We contribute to the new product forecasting literature by augmenting analogy-based approaches with pre-release online search traffic. In contrast to existing research, which relies solely on pre-release buzz during the launch phase, we consider life cycle sales. We propose a model of pre-release online search traffic and market potential, connecting the two to support pre-launch decision-making. We validate this relationship with an empirical experiment on sequential video game sales. Our findings support that pre-release online search traffic contains predictive information up to 18 weeks before release and can increase life cycle sales forecast accuracy by up to 21 %. The explanatory power of pre-release online search traffic varies across product generations. This evolution opens up marketing opportunities and highlights the importance of managing pre-release search interest. Our approach can be implemented with minimal data requirements, making it a versatile and accessible tool for firms. We provide extensive managerial findings and a way forward for incorporating this approach into “new to the world” products.

Participation in a Megagame and a consecutive facilitated debriefing can enable large groups to co-construct awareness and knowledge about the complex relations involved in developing sustainable futures for current societies. “Switching the current” is a megagame where 20 to 100 participants collaboratively experience the challenges involved in shaping future energy consumption patterns and energy production solutions for their region, just and sustainable from a social, economic and environmental perspective. This paper explores how collective discussions can be visualized to better understand how in-game experiences are connected to real-world phenomena. Doing so, a time-snake method has been developed which visually depicts how reflective group discussions move between “game content” and “real world phenomena”, as well as between “attention to details” and “a broad systems perspective”. The comprehensive analysis and comparison of two debriefing sessions shows how participating in a Megagame can develop awareness and understanding of complex relations in shaping sustainable futures of societal energy systems. It also demonstrates how applying time-snake visualizations can help to evaluate the richness of the reflective co-construction that occurs in facilitated debriefings. © 2025 The Authors.

One of the main challenges in the cybersecurity industry is the skills gap. This is manifested both as a lack of qualified staff and as a lack of general cybersecurity skills among the working population at large. To better the situation, high-quality learning resources that capture the inherent socio-technical nature of cybersecurity are needed. The focus of this research is on Cybersecurity body of knowledge (CyBOK) which is a comprehensive and free to access cybersecurity resource that comprise 21 topical texts called knowledge areas, and additional resources such as labs, lectures, and webinars. This research studies two cases where CyBOK has been used as a learning material in higher education. The goal of the study is to both evaluate the student’s perception of CyBOK and the extent to which the comprehensiveness of CyBOK facilitates student engagement in topics not directly included in the assigned course material. The results suggests that CyBOK is indeed useful as a learning material for higher education and could support student engagement with cybersecurity, but the way in which it is explained and integrated into curricula is crucial.

Psychedelic substances and meditation can elicit personally meaningful experiences that support well-being, yet their relative and combined contributions remain unclear. Meditation typically produces gradual improvements through sustained practice, whereas psychedelics may induce acute shifts. To examine these dynamics, we re-analysed data from two cross-sectional online surveys using multiple regression models. In Study 1 (N = 679), we assessed associations of cumulative psychedelic use and meditation practice with well-being, ill-being, and psychological flexibility. When examined separately, both practices were associated with greater well-being and flexibility. However, when considered jointly, the associations for psychedelics were reduced or became nonsignificant, whereas meditation remained consistently associated with the outcomes. Weak evidence also emerged for a potential synergy effect via an interaction between the two practices. In Study 2 (N = 137), we examined perceived well-being changes following a personally meaningful experience facilitated by psychedelics alone, meditation alone, or both combined. Participants in the combined and meditation groups reported significantly greater improvements compared with the psychedelic-only group, although all groups showed positive change on average. Together, these findings suggest that meditation may enhance the benefits of psychedelic experiences and that meditation practice can confound associations between psychedelic use and well-being. More broadly, they highlight the importance of considering both practices together when evaluating their contributions to mental health outcomes.