Experimenting with cardboard formwork for precast concrete building components

In this study, we investigated the use of corrugated cardboard as a resource for making molds for precast concrete components, aiming to expand the application of cardboard in concrete casting. Three prototypical formwork applications were developed and analyzed–small blocks for green walls, modular twisted blocks for columns, and modular steps. We present a set of design criteria for the fabrication, and a cost-effective technique for waterproofing the molds to maintain their reusability and recyclability. The study demonstrates the feasibility and benefits of using cardboard molds for concrete casting, but also identifies challenges, such as achieving geometric precision, the surface finishing quality, and limitations on the size and weight of the cast elements due to the cardboard’s limited strength during extended curing periods. The study highlights how the intended application influenced the developed fabrication workflow. Future work will address these challenges and assess the environmental impact of this method, laying the groundwork for further refinement of this alternative approach to promoting more-efficient building practices

Customizing large-scale hydrological models : Harnessing the open data realm for impactful local applications

Study region: Lake Hume in Australia and Harsha Lake in USA. Study focus: Large-scale hydrological models (LSHMs), though important for both scientific and societal reasons, require the representation of many unknown features that influence river system response. However, current model identification practices in catchment modelling cannot lead to robust LSHMs for local decision-making. To address this, it is necessary to customise the models by integrating local data and knowledge from various sources (e.g. in-situ and earth observations) and fluxes. We present a framework to customize LSHMs for impactful local applications and showcase this using the global WWH hydrological model as the reference LSHM. New hydrological insights: We present significant improvements in modelling streamflow and actual and potential evapotranspiration, following WWH refinements to include local lakes and reservoir management. Local streamflow measurements and earth observations from NASA MODIS evapotranspiration products were used to re-calibrate the locally adapted model, leading to spatial consistency in performance. Combining multiple variables and metrics during model identification improved streamflow performance and robustness, with combination sets reducing variability and enhancing representation of diverse hydrological processes, highlighting the need for tailored metric and variable selection. This underpins the importance of including informative data in customized multi-objective modelling chains. Finally, incorporating reservoir management improved simulation of a regulated system, with local insights informing reservoir parameterization in LSHMs and bridging the gap to global-scale applications

Policy input for data sharing for circularity in the Nordics : How can policy makers incentivize and scale data-sharing ecosystems across Nordic businesses?

The world's natural resources are under significant pressure – without strategies to reduce the amount of material being used and products being consumed, the UN has warned of ‘total societal collapse. The circulareconomy offers a solution by using 70% of current materials, redefining waste as a resource, and providing environmental and financial benefits, including unlocking up to $140 billion in the Nordics alone by 2030. To realize this potential, businesses need a deeper understanding of their value chains. This requires collaborative data efforts, as no single company can see the entire lifecycle of materials and products. While companies can optimize their operations individually, only systemic data sharing can scale circular solutions and realize their full value.  Businesses across value chains – from Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to large corporations – face major roadblocks in sharing circular data. Companies struggle with unclear business incentives, complex, overlapping legislations, unclear compliance requirements, and inconsistent data standards. SMEs, in particular, lack the resources to meet new sustainability reporting demands, while global value chains require harmonization across regulations. To overcome the barriers, the consulted companies and strategic advisors of the Nordic Circular Accelerator Program propose policy makers to address three strategic objectives – each with a subsets of concrete interventions that incentivize and enable circular data sharing, harmonize and scale the efforts, and support and strengthen businesses throughout.

UPPLEVELSER AV ATT VÅRDAS FÖR BRÖSTCANCER : En systematisk litteraturstudie ur ett patientperspektiv

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer that affects about 7000 people in Sweden annually. Through frequent screenings, the healthcare system tries to detect the disease early to be able to treat it. Healthcare professionals thus have a great responsibility to help patients with their well-being. Aim: To describe patients' experiences of being cared for breast cancer. Method: The method in this thesis is an analysis of 13 qualitative articles through a literature review according to Evans' synthesis. Results: In the results, two themes were identified: Possibility of trust and uncertainty in lifestyle. Based on these themes, four subthemes could be identified: The experience of feeling safe, the experience of hope, the experience of worry and the experience of changed self-image. Based on these, a clear need was identified among the patients to receive well-developed care where they were met with respect and warmth to maintain their health throughout the course of the illness. Conclusion: The conclusions that can be drawn from the thesis are that it is necessary to continue active work to support patients affected by breast cancer to counteract mental illness in this patient group. Keywords: Breast cancer, experience, healthcare professionals, literature review, patient

Deduction of Input VAT in Garage Projects

This essay examines the allocation of the right to deduct input value added tax (VAT) in projects involving the construction of residential buildings and garages. While there is no right to deduct input VAT for the construction of residential buildings, there is a right to deduct input VAT for the construction of parking spaces and garages. The central issue concerns how costs should be allocated in cases of comprehensive construction projects of both residential buildings and garages. The study systematically reviews all lower court case law to identify patterns in legal application. The analysis reveals inconsistencies in how input VAT allocation is applied. Furthermore, the essay discusses whether the current legal practice aligns with EU law. The application of the law is critically assessed, and it is suggested that the Supreme Administrative Court should review the issue to ensure greater consistency and legal clarity.

Safe and stable Zn-lignin batteries with a biopolymer based hydrogel electrolyte

The safety risks associated with organic solvent-based batteries for stationary energy storage have driven scientists to reconsider aqueous electrolytes combined with ultra low-cost materials. In this context, zinc (Zn) metal and biopolymer lignin are certainly among the most abundant and economical electroactive materials on Earth, displaying compatibility in their redox activity to fit the stability window of aqueous electrolytes. But, up to now, the electrolyte solutions in those systems incorporate fluorinated organic salts or bio-ionic liquids, both of which are detrimental to the environment and expensive. In this work we use a state-of-the-art lignin electrode based on catechol functionalized lignin (LC) nano-composited with carbon black (C) and a biopolymer hydrogel electrolyte based on agarose with non-fluorinated Zn salt. The optimization of the hydrogel's composition was realized by reducing the amount of free water by promoting its bonding with additional glycerol. The hydrogel facilitates the growth of Zn in the (002) plane, preventing dendritic formation. The highest discharge capacity of 79.7 mA h gLC-1 was obtained at 0.05 A g-1 charge/discharge rate for the buffered 3% agarose hydrogel electrolyte containing 25% glycerol with 1 M Zn2+. The hydrogel containing 25% glycerol with 1 M Zn2+ and 1 M K+ in the absence of buffering shows the best cycle performance with 78% capacity retention after 26 000 cycles at 1 A g-1 with a capacity of 58 mA h gLC-1 at 0.05 A g-1. This study shows the possibility of a safe, affordable, bio-based environmentally friendly energy storage system that has the potential for large-scale applications.Funding Agencies|Swedish Electricity Storage and Balancing Centre (SESBC) - Swedish Energy Agency together with five academic and twenty-six non-academic partners; Wallenberg Wood Science Center; Swedish Energy Agency [P52023-1]; Forsk foundation [22-134]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoeping University (Faculty Grant SFO-Mat-LiU) [2009-00971]; Wallenberg Scholar grant; Swedish Research Council [VR 2020-04210]</p

Fostering Urban Climate Transition Through Innovative Governance Coordination

The role of cities in addressing the challenge of climate change is growing and becoming more noticeable in global debates and actions on the ground. However, transformative innovations needed for addressing complex and wicked societal challenges cannot be achieved by cities alone and require concerted efforts also at national and international levels. In addition to multi-level governance collaborations between cities, regions and the state or horizontal networks between cities, unconventional polycentric governance arrangements are emerging that still need to be explored and understood better. This study analyses the case of the Swedish Strategic Innovation programme ‘Viable Cities’ and its ‘Climate-neutral Cities 2030’ (CNC2030) initiative over the period of 6 years. Our analysis shows how during this time, Viable Cities successfully mediated the design and implementation across governance levels (urban, national and European) of a number of governance instruments that influenced the work of Swedish municipalities towards the goals of climate-neutrality in their cities. Through mutual commitments, learning platforms and an alignment of instruments, this governance innovation increases the collective capacity of Swedish cities to act in the climate transition. Our study shows how intermediaries can facilitate innovative arrangements grounded in multi-level governance alignments and inter-urban interactions to enact and shape transformative innovation policy for urban climate transition.QC 20250408Forging systemic coherence: Transformative portfolio approach for urban transition governanceConnect to Transform: Connect to transform: Enabling transitions via quadruple helix co-creatio

The Stratospheric Polar Vortex and Surface Effects : The Case of the North American 2018/19 Cold Winter

A severe cold air outbreak hit the US and parts of Canada in January 2019, leaving behind many casualties where at least 21 people died as a consequence. According to Insurance Business America, the event cost the US about 1 billion dollars. In the Midwest, surface temperatures dipped to the lowest on record in decades, reaching -32 degrees C in Chicago, Illinois, and down to -48 degrees C wind chill temperature in Cotton and Dakota, Minnesota, giving rise to broad media attention. A zonal wavenumber 1-3 planetary wave forcing caused a sudden stratospheric warming, with a displacement followed by a split of the polar vortex at the beginning of 2019. The common downward progression of the stratospheric anomalies stalled at the tropopause and, thus, they did not reach tropospheric levels. Instead, the stratospheric trough, developing in a barotropic fashion around 70 degrees W, turned the usually baroclinic structure of the Aleutian high quasi-barotropic. In response, upward propagating waves over the North Pacific were reflected at its lower stratospheric, eastward tilting edge toward North America. Channeled by a dipole structure of positive and negative eddy geopotential height anomalies, the waves converged at the center of the latter and thereby strengthened the circulation anomalies responsible for the severely cold surface temperatures in most of the Midwest and Northeast US