Place-Based Innovation Ecosystems: Volvo companies in Gothenburg (Sweden)

There is a revival in the automotive sector in West Sweden, whereby several new companies set around the vehicle industry are attracting fresh capital and expertise into the region. An increasingly dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem is generating new innovation intermediaries who provide added-value functions. The emergence of these innovation intermediaries is being driven by political, market-related, socio-cultural, relational and technological factors. These include societal challenges and trends that drive political interest, such as environmental issues and climate change. There is also a political interest in adapting to globalisation, to secure regional competitiveness and resilience. New technology developments include the electrification of vehicles, automation and connected vehicles. This is driving an interest from industry and academia in attracting talent and securing competences. There is also a tradition and experience of collaboration in the region. Volvo Group (AB Volvo) and Volvo Cars are very interested in continuing to nurture the regional ecosystem, by attracting other companies to the region. Civil society is eventually involved in the innovation ecosystem as user of technology, where user behaviour is analysed as an input to development processes. A common view among respondents is that it should be the needs of the stakeholders to drive the setting-up of innovation support actors or collaborative projects. These initiatives should support not only single companies but also many actors in the system, and be conducive to collaborative activities.JRC.B.3-Territorial Developmen

To learn for school or for life Children´s thoughts about their future.

Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka vilka tankar elever i år 6 har om sin framtid men också att ta reda på vad dessa elever anser är viktigt att lära sig i skolan inför framtiden samt att se vilken användning de finner för det de lär i skolan. Jag vill också se om det finns några skillnader mellan barnens tankar i två olika bostadsområden. Den litteraturstudie som ligger till grund för den empiriska undersökningen berör främst tidigare undersökningar som har gjorts inom ämnesområdet. Den empiriska undersökningen består av intervjuer med 21 barn från två skolor i olika bostadsområden. Intervjuerna har sedan analyserats ur ett kvalitativt perspektiv. Förutom redovisningen av alla intervjuer presenteras också fyra elevporträtt, vilka beskriver elevintervjuerna i sin helhet. Resultatet visar att eleverna är medvetna om sin framtid och att det är något de tänker på. Det visar också att eleverna i stor utsträckning finner användning för det de lär sig på olika sätt, främst i skolverksamheten. Resultatet visar också att eleverna är ganska eniga om vad de tror ärnyttigt att lära sig för framtiden och vad de anser mindre viktigt och användbart. Diskussionen och avslutningen tar upp tankar om vikten av att i skolan visar på kunskapernas nytta och användning både för elevernas nutida vardag och för deras framtid

Out-of-field doses from proton therapy and doses from CBCT imaging : Risk of radiation-induced second cancer from modern radiotherapy

The use of ionizing radiation for treatment of cancer diseases is continuously increasing as patient survival is improving and new treatment techniques are emerging. While this development is beneficial for curing primary tumors, concerns have been raised regarding the unwanted dose contribution to healthy tissues of patients and the associated risk of radiation-induced second cancer (RISC). This is especially important for younger patients receiving radiotherapy more often than before and for whom the risk of developing RISC is elevated in comparison to the typical adult radiotherapy patient. In order to estimate the risk of RISC associated with modern radiotherapy and imaging, the associated radiation doses must be determined. Patients undergoing radiotherapy receive in-field doses from the primary beam but also out-of-field doses originating from secondary radiation produced in the beamline and within the patient. Over the last years, the use of proton pencil beam scanning (PBS) therapy has rapidly increased due to its potential to reduce the in-field doses to healthy tissues in comparison to photon therapy. One of the drawbacks with proton therapy is the production of neutrons capable of travelling large distances and depositing out-of-field doses to organs located far from the primary treatment field. The dose reduction associated with proton PBS therapy could consequently be affected by the out-of-field doses originating from secondary radiation. The sharp dose gradients associated with modern treatment techniques, such as photon intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and proton PBS therapy require more frequent and accurate patient imaging in comparison to conventional treatment techniques such as three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (CRT). Setup verification images could be acquired with cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) producing three-dimensional patient images at the cost of an increased patient dose in comparison to planar x-ray imaging. Concerns have been raised regarding the cumulative patient doses from repeated CBCT imaging versus the dose-saving benefits associated with modern radiotherapy techniques like IMRT and proton PBS. In this thesis, a study on the in-field and out-of-field doses to healthy tissues from photon IMRT and CRT treatments of head and neck tumors showed that the risk of RISC was unaffected by the employed treatment technique and indicated that the lifetime risk of cancer induction was of the order of 1-2%. Results from measurements and Monte Carlo simulations showed that the out-of-field absorbed doses and equivalent doses associated with proton PBS treatments of brain tumors were up to 60 µGy/Gy and 150 µSv/Gy, respectively. The risk of RISC associated with these out-of-field doses was in the range of approximately one induced cancer in ten thousand treated patients. A simulation study on the doses from a proton gantry-mounted CBCT system showed that repeated CBCT imaging could result in cumulative organ doses of almost 2 Gy. The conclusion from these studies is that the dose-sparing effects of proton PBS therapy are not overshadowed by the out-of-field doses originating from secondary radiation for brain tumor treatments, but that the cumulative doses from repeated CBCT imaging could have a relevant impact on the overall dose reduction

Hur långt sträcker sig den svenska välfärdspolitikens strävan efter jämlikhet? : en diskursanalytisk fallstudie av storstadssatsningen

The aim of this study is to analyse the Swedish state´s ambition in achieving equality among its citizens. By studying the new urban policy introduced by the government in 1998 from a theoretical perspective the purpose of this essay is to understand the ideational dimensions in this policy project, in regard to established understandings about equality. The theoretical framework on which this study is based consists of two different parts. The first presents dominating models on welfare states, mainly focusing on the socialdemocratic welfare state. The second introduces influential theoretical views on equality, primarily discussing universalism and a differentiated equality view. It also presents theoretical views on how to understand the relationship between the state an its citizens. This essay is taking its departure from a perspective based on constructionism, by asking how the problem was constructed and what the policy tells us. It is a case study using a discoursive approach in analysing the policy from an understanding of policies as arguments shaped by normative assumptions made by actors whose assumptions are limited by the discourse in which they exist. The main result of the study is that since the policy was created while the socialdemocratic party was in government, the normative assumptions, on which the party base its analysis on society, therefore had a main influence on the policy. Even though the analysis of the policy shows a tendency in Swedish welfare politics moving away from universalism towards a differentiated view on equality, with the state still marked by communitarian ideals, there appears to be a resistance towards including the perspective of cultural recognition next to the traditional view on economic redistribution based on a class theory

Hur långt sträcker sig den svenska välfärdspolitikens strävan efter jämlikhet? : en diskursanalytisk fallstudie av storstadssatsningen

The aim of this study is to analyse the Swedish state´s ambition in achieving equality among its citizens. By studying the new urban policy introduced by the government in 1998 from a theoretical perspective the purpose of this essay is to understand the ideational dimensions in this policy project, in regard to established understandings about equality. The theoretical framework on which this study is based consists of two different parts. The first presents dominating models on welfare states, mainly focusing on the socialdemocratic welfare state. The second introduces influential theoretical views on equality, primarily discussing universalism and a differentiated equality view. It also presents theoretical views on how to understand the relationship between the state an its citizens. This essay is taking its departure from a perspective based on constructionism, by asking how the problem was constructed and what the policy tells us. It is a case study using a discoursive approach in analysing the policy from an understanding of policies as arguments shaped by normative assumptions made by actors whose assumptions are limited by the discourse in which they exist. The main result of the study is that since the policy was created while the socialdemocratic party was in government, the normative assumptions, on which the party base its analysis on society, therefore had a main influence on the policy. Even though the analysis of the policy shows a tendency in Swedish welfare politics moving away from universalism towards a differentiated view on equality, with the state still marked by communitarian ideals, there appears to be a resistance towards including the perspective of cultural recognition next to the traditional view on economic redistribution based on a class theory

Modelling of a proton spot scanning system using MCNP6

The aim of this work was to model the characteristics of a clinical proton spot scanning beam using Monte Carlo simulations with the code MCNP6. The proton beam was defined using parameters obtained from beam commissioning at the Skandion Clinic, Uppsala, Sweden. Simulations were evaluated against measurements for proton energies between 60 and 226 MeV with regard to range in water, lateral spot sizes in air and absorbed dose depth profiles in water. The model was also used to evaluate the experimental impact of lateral signal losses in an ionization chamber through simulations using different detector radii. Simulated and measured distal ranges agreed within 0.1 mm for R90 and R80, and within 0.2 mm for R50. The average absolute difference of all spot sizes was 0.1 mm. The average agreement of absorbed dose integrals and Bragg-peak heights was 0.9%. Lateral signal losses increased with incident proton energy with a maximum signal loss of 7% for 226 MeV protons. The good agreement between simulations and measurements supports the assumptions and parameters employed in the presented Monte Carlo model. The characteristics of the proton spot scanning beam were accurately reproduced and the model will prove useful in future studies on secondary neutrons.Funding agencies:This work was partially supported by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority under the contract SSM2016-2425. The authors declare no conflict of interest.</p