Högskolan i Skövde

Följande studie undersöker hur lootboxes påverkar spelupplevelsen hos spelare, vad spelare anser är rimligt att ha i en lootbox och vilka typer av spel som får implementera lootboxes. Lootboxes har forskats kring under många år men spelarnas åsikter är relativt outforskade. En studie ämnad åt att kvantifiera spelarnas åsikter genom en enkät utfördes utifrån denna premiss. Deltagarna fick genom likertskalor och flervalsfrågor lyfta fram sina åsikter kring lootboxes. Deltagarna visade en negativ respons till försäljningen av lootboxes överlag men var mer accepterande av dem vid möjligheten att tjäna dem genom att spela spelet. Resultaten av studien var svåra att applicera på en större population men antyder på att det finns värde i vidare forskning kring ämnet. Förslag för potentiella framtida studier gavs, både för fortsatt forskning samt återskapande av denna studie med metoder och genomförande som kan ge mer applicerbarhet av resultaten.

Spelutveckling kräver interdisciplinärt arbete, kreativitet och bemästring av digitala verktyg. Antalet spelföretag i Sverige växer. Dessa företag saknar ofta större tillgångar och resurser, vilket gör företagandet utmanande. Indiespelutvecklare lider ofta av kompetensbrist utanför deras disciplin, vilket är väsentligt för nyuppstartade spelföretag. Denna studie undersöker hur indiespelföretag kan integrera hållbara och långsiktighetsfokuserade affärsmodeller i sin speldesign för att konkurrera på spelmarknaden. Studien utgjordes av tre intervjuer med speldesigners på olika indiespelföretag, i olika utvecklingsfaser, som transkriberades och analyserades tematiskt. Resultaten indikerar att omständigheterna dessa företag verkar i gör att kreativ autonomi prioriteras över ekonomisk tillväxt i förhållande till långsiktighet. Vidare visar resultaten att starka relationer med företagets publik spelar stor roll för långsiktigheten. Detta går att se när deltagarna diskuterar monetisering, där spelarupplevelsen och spelkvaliteten värderas högre än aggressiv monetisering. Framtida arbete kan innebära bredare intervjustudier, en inblick i hur AI påverkar indiespelföretag eller en uppföljningsstudie på samma företag i framtiden.

Background: Stroke is a neurological condition that is common in the world, and constitutes a significant cause of mortality and disability. Approximately 80 million people globally live with complications after stroke. One of the complications is aphasia. Aphasia causes communication difficulties that can be challenging and demanding for patients. Therefore, the nurse has a central role in communicating with the patient and creating conditions that enable the patient to participate in their own care.

Aim: The purpose of the study is to study how nurses experience communication with stroke patients who have aphasia.

Method: This study was conducted as a literature review according to Friberg (2022) and is based on scientific articles with qualitative and quantitative research.

Findings: The results of the study were identified in two main themes: organizational constraints and communication difficulties and strategies in encounters with patients with aphasia. Organizational limitations such as lack of time and staff shortages, as well as high workloads, lead to emotional strain and a feeling among nurses of not being able to cope. The study also highlights the importance of communication strategies as a supportive tool, as well as the need for adapted communication with patients with aphasia. Nurses emphasize the importance of education, stating that the need for knowledge is essential for developing communicative competence when interacting with patients with aphasia.

Conclusion: Most nurses experience emotional challenges, such as frustration, where organizational factors are modifiable. Nurses describe that lack of time and staff shortages, as well as high workload, are some of the factors that affect communication with patients with aphasia. Furthermore, the importance of communication strategies, adapted communication, and the need for knowledge are emphasized, which nurses consider to be crucial.

Background: Suicide is a public health problem, both globally and nationally, where 700000 people die annually as a result of suicide. Patients who experiences suicidal thoughts may find it difficult to seek help. This may be due to stigmatization as well as fear of not being taken seriously. Encounters with patients experiencing suicidal ideation constitute a complex nursing care situation that requires high-quality care from the nurse. Encountering suicidal patients is a complex nursing situation and requires good formal and clinical competence skills from nurses.

Aim: To enlighten the nurses experiences when encounter of suicide patients out of hospital care.

Method: General literature review based on five qualitative and six quantitative. They were analyzed with the intention of finding similarities and differences in the results.

Findings: Three themes were identified: Competence and organization, Communications deficiencies and Emotional burden, with a total of six subthemes. Insufficient education and lack of competence may influence the care encounter with suicidal patients. A lack of organizational support, insufficient guidelines and the absence of structured assessment tools may create an uncertainty in the encounter. Nurses often experience strong emotions in encounters with suicidal patients, such as anger, fear and powerlessness as well as stress and psychological strain.

Conclusion: Nurses experience that organizational factors and emotional strain can negatively affect caregiving, where communication and competence are central challenges for nurses in encounters with patients at risk of suicide.

Background: The transition from child to adult psychiatric care is a critical period in which responsibility for care shifts from a family-centered and holistically oriented to diagnosis-based structures of adult psychiatric care. Insufficient coordination can lead to interruptions in care and increased feelings of insecurity. Person-centered nursing care, continuity, support from nurses and relatives, as well as structured transition models, are central to promoting adolescents’ mental health and sense of security.

Aim: The aim of the study is to describe adolescents’ experiences associated with the transition from child to adult psychiatric care.

Method: The study was conducted as a general literature review, based on nine qualitative studies and one quantitative scientific article. The analysis includes systematic reading, compilation and comparison of the study results, which resulted in two main themes.

Findings: The analysis resulted in two main themes: Lack of continuity and structural barriers in the transition and Relational loss and changing care structures.

Conclusion: Poor continuity and insufficient collaboration during the transition from child to adult psychiatric care can increase the risk of interrupted care and create insecurity among adolescents. To counteract this, the transition needs to be adapted to individual needs and implemented in close collaboration between patients, child psychiatry and adult psychiatry. The results indicate that structured, person-centered, and safe care is crucial to ensure a successful transition.

Introduction: Since the 1990s, mental ill-health among children and adolescents in Sweden has risen steadily, now ranking among the highest in Europe. Despite this, general practitioners’ and resident physicians’ education in primary healthcare in child and adolescent psychiatry is limited. Nevertheless, these professionals are expected to possess broad competence in managing mental ill-health in young patients. This study of general practitioners and resident physicians in primary healthcare regarding children and adolescents with mental ill-health aims to map (1) the self-assessed amount of education in child and adolescent psychiatry, (2) self-perceived competence in different types of symptoms, and 3) self-perceived competence when prescribing psychiatric medications.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using web-based questionnaires completed by 184 general practitioners and 144 resident physicians in Sweden’s second-largest region. Data were analysed using Pearson’s Chi-squared test, Fisher’s exact test, Spearman’s correlation test, and the Holm–Bonferroni method.

Results: Most participants reported limited education in child and adolescent psychiatry. Further, they reported lower competence in managing mental ill-health and prescribing drugs for children (6–12 years) compared to adolescents (13–17 years). Particularly low competence was reported in self-harm, eating disorders, and substance-related disorders.

Conclusions: The growing prevalence of mental ill-health among children and adolescents is increasing pressure on primary care, with more young patients seeking help and higher expectations on providers. This study reveals that general practitioners and resident physicians often feel insufficiently prepared to manage these cases, highlighting gaps in medical training and emphasizing the need for strengthened medical school curricula, residency programs, and continuing medical education.

Background: Globally, stroke is the second leading cause of death. About 20% of patients with acute stroke die within 30 days of onset, yet fewer than 10% receive palliative care, and only a small fraction of these receive it in specialized palliative units. Rather, they are treated in stroke units, where both knowledge of palliative care and support for bereaved family members may be inconsistent and limited.

Objectives: To describe the occurrence and design of bereavement support in the form of conversations offered to family members of patients who die from acute stroke in a stroke unit, as well as the registration in the Swedish Register of Palliative Care.

Design: This study employed a quantitative descriptive design with a cross-sectional approach.Methods:A study-specific survey consisting of three main questions and several follow-up questions was used. All 72 stroke units in Sweden were contacted in person, by phone, or by email; 71 units ultimately participated.

Results: Bereavement support in the form of conversations was provided to the family members of patients who had died from an acute stroke in 34 (48%) of the 71 stroke units. Among these, 21 units offered bereavement support to family members in all deaths, while 13 provided it when the need for support was identified. In total, 60 of the 71 stroke units (84%) register in the Swedish Register of Palliative Care, and of these, 25 units systematically use the registered data.

Conclusion: Neither bereavement support in the form of conversations nor the systematic use of the palliative care registry are fully established part of care at stroke units. To ensure good and equitable end-of-life care, support for bereaved family members needs to be strengthened. Palliative registry data from stroke units represent an underutilized resource with the potential to improve both palliative care and bereavement support.

The rise of advanced digitalization in Industry 4.0 has enabled manufacturers to leverage data through AI and ML solutions for various manufacturing challenges. However, integrating these models into factory settings remains challenging, as models that perform well on static datasets struggle with dynamic shop floor data. MLOps is an emerging discipline focused on bridging the gap between ML models and production environments; however, in the manufacturing domain, questions remain about how to effectively deploy ML models using MLOps. This article addresses these gaps by conducting a systematic literature review combined with thematic analysis to explore architectures and frameworks used to adopt MLOps in real-world industrial applications, referred to here as industrial MLOps. The study identifies key architectural requirements and outlines seven implementation challenges, with recommendations and architecture mappings to overcome them. Results show that fully automated MLOps frameworks remain underdeveloped, and that modular, scalable architectures are recommended to address model drift, data quality, and integration challenges.

Background: As children’s digital activities begin earlier and grow more complex, parental responsibilities now extend into digital domains. Digital parenting, including digital mediation, ways in which parents communicate and engage with children around digital media use, has become increasingly vital to promote healthy child development. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between parental individual- and social characteristics, including self-efficacy, gender, native language and social networks, and digital mediation strategies among parents of preschool and elementary school children in Sweden.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2024 using baseline data from an evaluation of a universal parenting programme in a small Swedish municipality. The sample included 177 parents of children aged 3–14 years. Data were collected via a digital survey and analyzed using non-parametric tests and logistic regression. Parental mediation strategies were assessed using the Media Parenting Scale for School-Aged children (MEPA-20), and self-efficacy was measured using the validated Tool to measure Parental Self Efficacy (TOPSE).

Results: Higher parental self-efficacy was significantly associated with more frequent use of active (aOR = 1.2, 95% CI 1.1–1.3) and restrictive (aOR = 1.2, 95% CI 1.1–1.2) mediation strategies. A gender difference was identified, with women reporting higher odds of using active mediation compared to men (aOR = 2.6, 95% CI 1.1-6.0). Parents with a non-Swedish native language were more likely to use restrictive (aOR = 2.6, 95% CI 1.2–5.8) and overprotective (aOR = 5.7, 95% CI 2.4–13.6) mediation, independent of self-efficacy. Institutional networks (e.g. schools, health services) were linked to higher odds of both active (aOR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.1–4.3) and overprotective (aOR = 2.6, 95% CI 1.3–5.2) mediation, while personal networks had no significant influence.

Conclusions: Digital parenting is shaped by parental self-efficacy, social context, and institutional support. Findings underscore the importance of culturally responsive public health interventions that enhance parental confidence and promote balanced digital mediation. Institutional actors play a key role in reaching diverse families, supporting equitable digital environments in line with public health and Agenda 2030 goals.

Olika sätt att interagera med spel ger olika upplevelser. När spelmomentet tärningskast undersöks kan olika interaktionstekniker tillämpas när det implementeras till en digital miljö. Den digitala handlingen speglar en riktig handling som i sig medför positiva aspekter till spelupplevelsen. Spelmomentet implementeras på två olika sätt, med accelerometer och med pekskärm, och ersätter riktiga tärningar i en brädspelsession. Deltagarna får välja och använda implementationerna fritt men diskuterar i en fokusgruppintervju sina val utifrån vissa aspekter och parametrar: känslan av kontroll, förväntan, repetition, inlevelse och engagemang. Ingen av implementationerna upplevdes som att den påverkade spelet negativt. En av spelgrupperna menade att det förhöjde spelupplevelsen mycket. Interaktiviteten som båda implementationerna erbjuder läggs fram som den största faktorn i varför de i vissa avseenden känns likvärdigt en riktig tärning. Tydligare samband behöver etableras för att gynna utvecklare som strävar efter innovativa interaktionstekniker.

Studien undersöker hur procedurell innehållsgenerering (PCG) påverkar navigerbarheten i modulära spelmiljöer med särskild fokus på hur dessa miljöer kan leda spelaren genom tydliga visuella ledtrådar, konsekvent rumslig logik och sammanhängande komposition. Utgångspunkten är att navigerbarhet har en central roll när det handlar om inlevelse och att skapa en meningsfull spelupplevelse i procedurellt genererade nivåer (Shaker, Togelius & Nelson, 2016).Studien genomförs som en kvalitativ jämförande analys där ett utvalt nivåsegment i två dungeon crawler/roguelike-spel (Diablo III och Torchlight II) spelas upprepade gånger. Deltagare använder “think-aloud”-metoden samtidigt som observationer om spelarbeteende görs. Syftet är att identifiera återkommande mönster i hur PCG och modulär nivågenerering formar spelarnas rumsliga förståelse, beslutsfattande och spelupplevelse.

Background: Heart failure is a common condition that impairs the heart’s pumping capacity and causes symptoms such as shortness of breath and fatigue. Selfcare includes medication management, dietary modifications and physical activity, which can be challenging to maintain without adequate support. Nurses play a key role through person- centered care in strengthening patients’ self-care abilities.

Aim: The aim was to describe patients’ experiences of self-care while living with heart failure in daily life.

Method: An integrated synthesis of qualitative research inspired by metasynthesis.

Findings: Three themes were identified: Learning to assess bodily signals in self-care, balancing symptoms, treatment and daily life, and the patient’s need for information, support, and continuity from healthcare professionals. Self-care involves continuous symptom assessment, adaptation of daily activities, and both personal and professional support to maintain a balance between the demands of the disease and the individuals’ capacity.

Conclusion: The management of self-care in heart failure is shaped by the interplay between disease demands, patient resources and healthcare support. Patients need to assess symptoms and implement self-care, influenced by physical, emotional and social factors. Effective self-care strengthens feelings of security, control and independence, while barriers may hinder implementation. Person-centered care with continuous follow-up enables a meaningful and autonomous life.

Denna studie ämnade att undersöka de utmaningar som uppstår vid stilbevarandet när ett stiliserat 2D-koncept översätts till en spelbar 3D-miljö. För att undersöka detta tillämpades ett kvalitativt och praktiskt tillvägagångssätt. Arbetet bygger på insamlad litteratur kring stiliserad grafik, realtidsgrafik och spelproduktion, kompletterat med en kvalitativ intervju med en yrkesverksam spelgrafiker. Utifrån detta utformades en egen pipeline som användes i ett praktiskt genomförande där en 3D-miljö skapades i Unity (2024). Resultatet visar att en tydlig arbetsprocess, analys av visuella egenskaper samt anpassning till tekniska begränsningar är centrala för att bevara stil. Begränsningar i shaderkunskap påverkade resultatet, vilket ledde till större fokus på modellering och texturering. Framtida arbete kan inkludera mer avancerade shaderlösningar samt fler intervjustudier för att bredda förståelsen av stiliserad spelgrafik, och skapandet av det.

Inom spelutveckling brukas procedurellt brus frekvent för terränggenerering delvis för att minimera mängden manuellt arbete. Vidare är algoritmerna deterministiska och har korta beräkningstider vilket är passande för realtidsbaserad generering. Detta arbete ämnar studera och jämföra prestandan för brusalgoritmerna Perlin Noise, Simplex Noise och Gabor Noise utifrån olika implementationer av dessa algoritmer. Experimentet sker sekventiellt på CPU:n utifrån flera upplösningar på två olika hårdvaror. En begränsad mängd verk studerar brusalgoritmers prestanda men sällan inom sammanhanget av CPU:n. Från resultatet av studien blir det komplicerat att definiera generaliseringar till algoritmerna samt att implementationerna har en betydande påverkan. Övergripande presterar Simplex Noise med lägst exekveringstid medan Gabor Noise har en markant högre exekveringstid. Framtida arbete kan vidareutveckla denna studie genom att utforska flera aspekter såsom att undersöka parallellisering och undersöka flera dimensioner.

Simulering av vatten med Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) ärberäkningsintensivt men passar för interaktivt vatten i spel. Hrytsyshyn m.fl.(2023) visade att GPU-versionen av SPH gav en betydande prestandaökning, men studien saknade tillräcklig dokumentation för att möjliggöra reproducerbarhet. Denna studie undersöker om deras resultat kan reproduceras i en dokumenterad implementering genom att jämföra en CPU-version och en GPU-version av en identisk SPH-algoritm med Uniform Grid och spatial hashing som grannsökningsoptimering i spelmotorn Unity. Kvasi-experimentet kördes på en bärbar dator med integrerad GPU och exekveringstiden mättes i millisekunder per tidssteg vid 1 000 till 75 000 partiklar. CPU-versionen överskred gränsen på 16,6 ms vid 5 000 partiklar, medan GPU versionenhöll sig under samma gräns upp till 10 000 partiklar. Vid 75 000 partiklar uppmättes en speedup-faktor på 16,55. Som framtida arbete föreslås tillämpning av GPU-sortering samt utvärdering av implementeringen på en dator med dedikerad GPU.

Digitala karaktärer spelar en allt viktigare roll i narrativdrivna datorspel där emotionellt berättande står i centrum. Samtidigt finns begränsad forskning om hur subtila och realistiska karaktärsprestationer konstrueras i motion capture-baserade produktioner. Denna studie undersöker vilka återkommande mönster som kan identifieras i subtila och realistiska motion capture-baserade karaktärsprestationer i narrativdrivna datorspel. Studien genomförs genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av tre fallstudier: Baldur’s Gate 3, The Last of Us och Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Analysen utgår från teorier om emotionell läsbarhet, skådespelarteori och animation. Resultaten visar att subtila prestationer ofta konstrueras genom mikrorörelser i ansiktsmimik och kroppsspråk samt genom olika rörelsedynamiker, såsom gradvis kroppslig progression, koncentrerad stillhet och fragmenterad rörelse. Studien bidrar till en ökad förståelse för hur trovärdiga emotionella prestationer skapas i moderna datorspel och hur motion capture samverkar med animation och skådespeleri i denna process.

Studien syftar till att analysera hur spel väljer att presentera japansk samurajkultur och hur kulturella markörer kan påverka autenticiteten hos ett spel. Ytterligare undersöker studien hur utvecklare med lokala respektive utländska perspektiv påverkar representationen av samurajkultur. Termerna ikonisk och indexikal autenticitet används för att avgöra i vilken kategori som spelen hamnar i och kulturella markörer är visuella markörer som relateras till en kultur. Fyra spel som innehåller japansk samurajkultur valdes ut och analyserades med metoderna bildanalys och rörelseanalys. Två av spelen utvecklades i Japan och de andra utvecklades i USA och Kanada. Resultatet av studien var att alla spelen lutar åt ikonisk autenticitet med vissa spel som använder mer indexikal autenticitet än andra. Spelen från Japan visade att utvecklarna själva kan naturligt integrera lokal kultur. För framtida arbete kan det vara möjligt att bredda forskningen till flera kulturer eller att gå djupare in på representationen av japansk kultur.