https://www.mdu.se/

We study the double-mean-reverting model by Gatheral. Our previous results concerning the asymptotic expansion of the implied volatility of a European call option, are improved up to order 3, that is, the error of the approximation is ultimately smaller that the 1.5th power of time to maturity plus the cube of the absolute value of the difference between the logarithmic security price and the logarithmic strike price.

The double-mean-reverting model by Gatheral [1] is motivated by empirical dynamics of the variance of the stock price. No closed-form solution for European option exists in the above model. We study the behaviour of the implied volatility with respect to the logarithmic strike price and maturity near expiry and at-the- money. Using the method by Pagliarani and Pascucci [6], we calculate explicitly the first few terms of the asymptotic expansion of the implied volatility within a parabolic region.

The double-mean-reverting model by Gatheral is motivated by empirical dynamics of the variance of the stock price. No closed-form solution for European option exists in the above model. We study the behaviour of the implied volatility with respect to the logarithmic strike price and maturity near expiry and at-the-money. Using the method by Pagliarani and Pascucci, we calculate explicitly the first few terms of the asymptotic expansion of the implied volatility within a parabolic region.

The Gatheral double stochastic volatility model is a three-factor model with mean-reverting stochastic volatility that reverts to a stochastic long-run mean. Our previous paper investigated the performance of the first and second-order implied volatilities expansions under this model. Moreover, a simple partial calibration method has been proposed. This paper reviews and extends previous results to the third-order implied volatility expansions under the same model. Using Monte-Carlo simulation as the benchmark method, extensive numerical studies are conducted to investigate the accuracy and properties of the third-order expansion. 

For the space of (σ, τ) -derivations of the group algebra C[ G] of a discrete countable group G, the decomposition theorem for the space of (σ, τ) -derivations, generalising the corresponding theorem on ordinary derivations on group algebras, is established in an algebraic context using groupoids and characters. Several corollaries and examples describing when all (σ, τ) -derivations are inner are obtained. Considered in details are cases of (σ, τ) -nilpotent groups and (σ, τ) -FC groups.

Emissions from oil wells and refineries are sources of air pollutants depending on their composition and amounts. The current study focuses on investigation and detecting of thermal anomalies and active hotspots in oil pipelines and refineries locations in Iraq, along with the spatial distribution of the ultraviolet aerosol (UV Aerosol) index. The goal is to assign the most polluted cities that can assist in evaluating the consequences of the air pollution on human and the environmental risk as well. We carried out the analysis of the products obtained from Terra/ MODIS data derived from channels 21 (4 µm) and 31 (11 µm), and the Sentinel-5P products/ Level 2 for the UV Aerosol index in the atmosphere, and found a number of active thermal signals in different geographic areas in Iraq, especially in southeastern and northeastern parts of the country, where the most of Iraq's petroleum resources are located there. The study shows a good correlation between the observed thermal anomalies and the UV emissions, and the results proved that the aerosol emission changes is significantly affected by emissions from oil wells and refineries. We also used fires reports obtained from the department of safety and fires in Basra to validate the outcomes and to investigate the final interpretation of the obtained results that were consist with the documented reports. As well as the results also shows a significant spatio-temporal variations in values of UV index among different parts of Iraq, and the larger amount of UV index has been seen in southern Iraq in Basra.

This study investigates how shared understanding is established during a rarely researched instructional and interactional context, namely teacher-student interactions during between-desk instructions (BDIs). Specifically, the authors focus on instructional interactions initiated by students during project-based language teaching in an upper-secondary Swedish classroom and probe into how students' formulations of understanding of a teacher's prior responses shape the subsequent interactional trajectories. Their conversation analytic investigation reveals that the teacher produces either confirming or disconfirming actions following students' formulations of understanding. These response types accomplish two distinct forms of interactional work: (a) when the teacher confirms the students' formulations, she expands the sequence with instruction-related elaborations; and (b) when the teacher does not confirm the formulations, she accounts for that, prompting students to reformulate their understanding. Overall, this study contributes to the body of research on BDIs as a recurring yet under-investigated lesson practice during project work.

In Sweden, the Compulsory School for Students with Intellectual Disabilites (CSSID) is currently experiencing political change, as this type of school is being renamed and is undergoing organisational changes. The inclusion of children with intellectual disabilities (ID) in schooling, and in general society, has been challenged and debated for decades; such debates are at the heart of some of these changes. In this study, we have systematically investigated the policy work (e.g. government reports and statements) preceding and governing the changes. Hence, the purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge on how policy documents inscribe meaning to the inclusion of children with ID. Results show that discourses on inclusion are connected to neoliberal values and practices, such as assessment, global comparison, and accountability. It has been suggested that this may have a profound and long-term effect on how children with ID are fabricated and hence, how the child with ID and their education can be understood in terms of being included in the idea of ‘all students’ in policy, and in addition, in practice.

Recent research at the cross between cognitive and social sciences is investigating the cognitive mechanisms behind cooperative decisions. One debated question is whether cooperative decisions are made faster than non-cooperative ones. Yet empirical evidence is still mixed. In this paper we explore the implications of individual heterogeneity in social value orientation for the effect of response time on cooperation. We conduct a meta-analysis of available experimental studies (n=8; treatments=16; 5,232 subjects). We report two main results: (i) the relation between response time and cooperation is moderated by social value orientation, such that it is positive for individualist subjects and negative for prosocial subjects; (ii) the relation between response time and cooperation is partly mediated by extremity of choice. These results suggest that highly prosocial subjects are fast to cooperate, highly individualist subjects are fast to defect, and subjects with weaker preferences make slower and less extreme decisions. We explain these results in terms of decision-conflict theory.

Social norms have been investigated across many disciplines for many years, but until recently, studies mainly provided indirect, implicit and correlational support for the role of social norms in driving behaviour. To understand how social norms, and in particular social norm change, can generate a large-scale behavioural change to deal with some of the most pressing challenges of our current societies, such as climate change and vaccine hesitancy, we discuss and review several recent advances in social norm research that enable a more precise underpinning of the role of social norms: how to identify their existence, how to establish their causal effect on behaviour and when norm change may pass tipping points. We advocate future research on social norms to study norm change through a mechanism-based approach that integrates experimental and computational methods in theory-driven, empirically calibrated agent-based models. As such, social norm research may move beyond unequivocal praising of social norms as the missing link between self-interested behaviour and observed cooperation or as the explanation for (the lack of) social tipping. It provides the toolkit to understand explicitly where, when and how social norms can be a solution to solve large-scale problems, but also to recognize their limits.This article is part of the theme issue 'Emergent phenomena in complex physical and socio-technical systems: from cells to societies'.

In graph theory, centrality measures are very crucial in ranking vertices of the graph in order of their importance. Alpha and eigenvector centralities are some of the highly placed centrality measures applied especially in social network analysis, disease diffusion networks and mechanical infrastructural developments. In this study we focus on recalculating alpha and eigenvector centralities using graph partitioning techniques. We write an algorithm for partitioning, sorting and efficiently computing these centralities for a graph. We then numerically demonstrate the technique on some sample small-sized networks to recalculate the two centrality measures

Several recent results concerning Hom-Leibniz algebra are reviewed, the notion of symmetric Hom-Leibniz superalgebra is introduced and some properties are obtained. Classification of 2-dimensional Hom-Leibniz algebras is provided. Centroids and derivations of multiplicative Hom-Leibniz algebras are considered including the detailed study of 2-dimensional Hom-Leibniz algebras.

One of the main ingredients of existing multiscale numerical methods for homogenization problems is an accurate description of the coarse scale quantities, e.g., the homogenized coefficient via local microscopic computations. Typical multiscale frameworks use local problems that suffer from the so-called resonance or cell-boundary error, dominating the all other errors in multiscale computations. Previously, the second order wave equation was used as a local problem to eliminate such an error. Although this approach eliminates the resonance error totally, the computational cost of the method is known to increase with increasing wave speed. In this paper, the possibility of integrating perfectly matched layers to the local wave equation is explored. In particular, questions in relation with accuracy and reduced computational costs are addressed. Numerical simulations are provided in a simplified one-dimensional setting to illustrate the ideas.

In this paper, the representations of color hom-Lie algebras have been reviewed and the existence of a series of coboundary operators is demonstrated. Moreover, the notion of a color omni-hom-Lie algebra associated to a linear space and an even invertible linear map have been introduced. In addition, characterization method for regular color hom-Lie algebra structures on a linear space is examined and it is shown that the underlying algebraic structure of the color omni-hom-Lie algebra is a color hom-Leibniz a algebra.

All children have the right to become equal citizens of the society. Children with intellectual disabilities have difficulties in learning and may need support to reach that equality, and some extra resources may be needed. Compared to children with typical development, children with intellectual disabilities have problems in three cognitive areas that are essential for learning activities: Abstract thinking. Understanding/using abstract symbols (text, numbers, money, and time) and imagining non-experienced things and situations. Several-steps thinking. Understanding multiple-level instructions and connections between cause and effect. Simultaneous handling of information. Nuanced considerations/comparisons, risk considerations and problem solving that manifest in complex social situations.

Endorsing an interactive bio-psycho-social understanding of intellectual disabilities implies that learning limitations are the discrepancy between abilities and the level and/or quality of support, and according to this an inclusive approach to learning should be based on knowledge about abilities rather than dis-abilities. Two inclusive classroom strategies for learning are presented and discussed in this chapter. These strategies seek ways of providing universal, inclusive learning situations where children with intellectual disability can interact with any children and the most important role for a teacher is to find ways to support the children in that interaction.

In this paper, we study some equivalent conditions for a color hom-Lie algebra to be a complete color hom-Lie algebra. In particular, we discuss the relationship between decomposition and completness for a color hom-Lie algebra. Moreover, we check some conditions that the set of αs -derivations of a color hom-Lie algebra to be complete and simply complete. Finally, we find some conditions in which the decomposition into hom-ideals of the complete multiplicative color hom-Lie algebras is unique up to order of hom-algebra.

The worldwide need and request for a workforce equipped with thorough high qualitativeknowledge but also a capability to use it in complex situations, has become the entrance ticketfor entrepreneurial skills entering the Swedish compulsory education. Thus, schools play an important role providing a space for individuals practicing these skills, being for instance able to see opportunities and make something from them, being initiative, self-confident, risktaking, creative and problem solving. With the aim to increase the knowledge of how entrepreneurial skills unfolds as part of the education at earlier ages, this mainly qualitative study follows a novel attempt to build a common thread of entrepreneurial skills from preschool to grade nine, in a small mid-Swedish municipality during 2018. Focusing on initial challenges, the findings show the teachers struggle with both content, methods and progression. Related to the curricula’s formulation arena, there is a discrepancy between this and the teachers’ transformation and realisation arena. This suggests theydo not always do what the curricula stipulate or they themselves classify as most important,they generally seem to struggle to link their subjects to entrepreneurial skills and there is a lack of progression between grades and in transitions between school levels.

Estimates of tree heartwood and sapwood profiles are important in the pulp industry and for dynamic vegetation models, in which they determine tree biomechanical stability and hydraulic conductivity. Several phenomenological models of stem profiles have been developed for this purpose, based on assumptions on how tree crown and foliage distributions change over time. Here, we derive estimates of tree profiles by synthesizing a simple pipe model theory of plant form with a recently developed theory of branch thinning that from simple assumptions quantifies discarded branches and leaves. This allows us to develop a new trunk model of tree profiles from breast height up to the top of the tree. We postulate that leaves that are currently on the tree are connected by sapwood pipes, while pipes that previously connected discarded leaves or branches form the heartwood. By assuming that a fixed fraction of all pipes remain on the trunk after a branching event, as the trunk is traversed from the root system to the tips, this allows us to quantify trunk heartwood and sapwood profiles. We test the trunk model performance on empirical data from five tree species across three continents. We find that the trunk model accurately describes heartwood and sapwood profiles of all tested tree species (calibration; R-2: 84-99%). Furthermore, once calibrated to a tree species, the trunk model predicts heartwood and sapwood profiles of conspecific trees in similar growing environments based only on the age and height of a tree (cross-validation/prediction; R-2: 68-98%). The fewer and often contrasting parameters needed for the trunk model make it a potentially useful complementary tool for biologists and foresters.

The Escalator Boxcar Train (EBT) is a commonly used method for solving physiologically structured population models. The main goal of this paper is to overcome computational disadvantages of the EBT method. We prove convergence, for a general class of EBT models in which we modify the original EBT formulation, allowing merging of cohorts. We show that this modified EBT method induces a bounded number of cohorts, independent of the number of time steps. This in turn, improves the numerical algorithm from polynomial to linear time. An EBT simulation of the Daphnia model is used as an illustration of these findings.

The Escalator Boxcar Train (EBT) is one of the most popular numerical

methods used to study the dynamics of physiologically structured population models.

The original EBT model accumulates an increasing system of ODEs to solve for each

time step. In this project, we propose a merging procedure to overcome computational

disadvantageous of the EBT method, the merging is done as an automatic feature.

In particular we apply the model including merging to a colony of Daphnia Pulex.

The classical pipe model theory introduced by Shinozaki, Yoda, Hozumi,

and Kira (1964a,b) is used to estimate tree sapwood area. It rests on the

conceptual idea that leaves are supported by pipes, serving as vascular

passages. The simple pipe model of plant form does not predict the heart

wood area and is thus not suitable for stem diameter estimates below the

tree crown. For this reason, Shinozaki, Yoda, Hozumi, and Kira (1964a)

verbally described an extended pipe model theory of tree form that in

principle accounts for the accumulation of disused pipes from discarded

branches and leaves. However, this pipe model theory of tree form is difficult

to apply in practice as lost branches and leaves are rarely known.

 Here, we synthesize the pipe model theory of plant form with a recently

developed theory of branch thinning that quantify discarded branches and

leaves. This allows us to develop a new stem model of tree profiles from

breast height up to the top of the tree. We test the stem model perfor

mance on empirical data from four tree species across three continents.

We find that the stem model accurately describes heartwood and sapwood

profiles of all tested tree species (calibration; R2: 84-99 %). Furthermore,

once calibrated to a tree species, the stem model predicts heartwood and

sapwood profiles of conspecific trees in similar growing environments based

only on the age and height of a tree (cross-validation / prediction; R2:

62-98 %).

Modelling population dynamics in ecological systems reveals properties that are difficult to find by empirical means, such as the probability that a population will go extinct when it is exposed to harvesting. To study these properties, we use an aquatic ecological system containing one fish species and an underlying resource as our models. In particular, we study a class of stage-structured population systems with and without starvation. In these models, we study the resilience, the recovery potential, and the probability of extinction and show how these properties are affected by different harvesting rates, both in a deterministic and stochastic setting. In the stochastic setting, we develop methods for deriving estimates of these properties. We estimate the expected outcome of emergent population properties in our models, as well as measures of dispersion. In particular, two different approaches for estimating the probability of extinction are developed. We also construct a method to determine the recovery potential of a species that is introduced in a virgin environment.

Keywords: Teachers´ leadership, parents-teachers ‘conference, primary school, didactic, hermeneutic, lifeworld phenomenology

This thesis aims to explain what importance teachers´ leadership is given and how teachers' leadership appears in the parents-teacher conferences. The theoretical frame is lifeworld phenomenology, which means that the world is a social, intersubjective, and historical world where people experience, act, and intertwine in a private and a shared world. The study is inspired by a lifeworld approach and the data was analyzed to consider people's context, their experiences and the challenges involved in leading parent-teacher conferences. The empirical work is based on observations of parent-teacher conferences and interviews with teachers and students. The analyses are made with the support of the life-world phenomenological concepts of hållning, seeing-as and pedagogical tact. The concept hållning has a duality and loses its meaning in translation. Hållning means a bodily approach and is an intertwining between the teacher's attitude and her body posture. All three concepts include verbal and bodily communicative expressions and sensitive and intuitive actions, their meanings will be highlighted and explained. 

The results show that teachers' leadership in parent-teacher conferences includes both preparatory and subsequent work and forms part of the teaching. Leadership both shapes the parent-teacher conference and is shaped in the same and given importance when teachers show consideration for the student, the relationship between teacher and student and the situation, balance challenges with time and sensitive topics, choose to take notes in the parent-teacher conferences in favor of presence in the conversation itself and document afterwards. Teachers' leadership in parent-teacher conferences shape the conversation through teachers' willingness to involve the students, flexibility, and ability to structure. Teachers' leadership in parent-teacher conferences are shaped by teachers' responsiveness, compliance, presence, attention, ability to improvise and playfulness.

The study's life-world phenomenological approach has made it possible to see that the parent-teacher conference requires a didactic knowledge related to the student as a person, to the content and to the structure that surrounds the conversation. This has been made visible in teachers' intuitive actions and bodily expressions as well as unreflected and reflected experiences. The study's starting points have made it possible to broaden the didactic understanding of the teachers' leadership in parent-teacher conferences by highlighting the clear intertwining of these conferences with other teaching

The purpose of this paper is to introduce Hom-prealternative superalgebras and their bimodules. Some constructions of Hom-prealternative superalgebras and Hom-alternative superalgebras are given, and their connection with Hom-alternative superalgebras are studied. Bimodules over Hom-prealternative superalgebras are introduced, relations between bimodules over Hom-prealternative superalgebras and the bimodules of the corresponding Hom-alternative superalgebras are considered, and construction of bimodules over Hom-prealternative superalgebras by twisting is described.

Background: Inclusive learning environments are considered as crucial for children’s engagement with learning and participation in school. Partnering for change (P4C) is a collaborative school-based service delivery model where services are provided at three levels of intensity based on children’s needs (class, group-, individual interventions). Interventions in P4C are provided universally to support all children with learning, not only children with special education needs (SEN), and as such are expected to be health-promoting. Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of P4C as well as school staff members’ and children’s experiences after P4C. Methods: In a parallel, non-randomised controlled intervention design, 400 children, aged 6–12 years, and their teachers, will be recruited to either intervention classes, working according to the P4C, or to control classes (allocation ratio 1:1). Data will be collected at baseline, post-intervention (4 months), and 11 months follow-up post baseline. The primary outcome is children’s engagement with learning in school. Secondary outcomes include for example children’s health-related quality of life and wellbeing, occupational performance in school, attendance, and special educational needs. The difference-in-differences method using regression modelling will be applied to evaluate any potential changes following P4C. Focus group interviews focusing on children, and professionals’ experiences will be performed after P4C. A health economic evaluation of P4C will be performed, both in the short term (post intervention) and the long term (11-month follow-up). This study will provide knowledge about the effectiveness of P4C on children’s engagement with learning, mental health, and wellbeing, when creating inclusive learning environments using a combination of class-, group- and individual-level interventions. Trial registration number: NCT05435937. 

The overall aim of this thesis is to use a curriculum theoretical perspective to contrib­ute knowledge about the impact of recent reforms on teachers’/preschool teachers’ teaching, with a special focus on mathematics. The thesis takes its starting point in a licentiate thesis that was completed in 2014. The further doctoral studies are based on two articles. These articles answer specific research questions. Substudy 1 was a systematic literature review that focused on the role of the preschool teacher in teaching mathematics in preschool. Substudy 2 explored how preschool teachers in­terpret their teaching mission based on the curriculum’s directives and how they describe the meaning of the concept of preschool teaching. The data from Substudy 1 consisted of 68 research articles, and Substudy 2 was based on 50 preschool teachers’ reflection texts. The theoretical underpinnings of the thesis are two theoretical perspec­tives: curriculum theory and Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic practice. The results from the two substudies show the importance of preschool teachers having both sub­ject knowledge and didactic competence to carry out teaching in spontaneous situa­tions and planned activities. The results from Substudy 1 show two different roles that pre­school teachers adopt when teaching mathematics in preschool education guided by social pedagogical or pre-primary curriculum traditions; these are the role of instructor and the role of an interactor. In the research studies, preschool teachers provide instruction with planned subject content or interact with the children’s play and other everyday situations to promote children’s mathematics learning. The results from Substudy 2 show an education that is guided by invisible pedagogy within the social pedagogical curriculum tradition. The preschool teachers describe teaching taking place spontaneously in play and other everyday situations based on children’s own interests and needs. The preschool teachers also have a purpose with the teaching, and they plan activities together with the children. These reveal teaching governed by visible pedagogy, which is characteristic of the pre-primary curriculum tradition. Further­more, there are indications that a new curriculum tradition is emerging bearing some sim­ilarities to previous traditions, an approach that is both play-based and goal-oriented. Children’s participation and influence are central in the teaching, which means that the teaching conforms to the children’s interests, and that goals from the curriculum are woven into the everyday work. The preschool teacher consciously shapes the envi­ronment in the preschool and uses materials to promote children’s learning, and the teaching has more distinct subject content. Together with the licentiate study, the two substudies show that teachers and preschool teachers have difficulty transforming a new curriculum text into practically applicable form. The curricula leave room for interpretation, and the uncertainty that arises in the transformation arena shows that they need support to realize the curriculum’s new guidelines.

The purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge about how teaching in preschool can be understood in relation to how teaching is described by preschool teachers. The following research questions were posed:How do preschool teachers describe teaching and its meaning in preschool? and What didactic questions appear in preschool teachers’ descriptions of teaching in preschool? The empirical data consist of reflective texts that were analysed through content analysis with the help of Bernstein’s concepts: classification and framing, and visible and invisible pedagogy. The results show that the preschool teachers in the study perceived the introduction of the concept of teaching in preschool as an opportunity, which allowed them to become more aware of their actions in different learning situations. That the preschool teachers described teaching taking place through play and in everyday situations based on children's interests and needs hints at an organization with invisible pedagogy, weak classification and weak framing. Strong classification and strong framing, on the other hand, became manifest when the preschool teachers described that they plan what they do with the children and use materials, organize children’s groups and design environments to promote children’s learning. Furthermore, the preschool teachers focused mainly on the didactic questions of how and why, while the what-question received less attention.

The aim of the study is to find similarities and differences concerning the new formulations on teaching in revised curriculum in Swedish preschool and international research in early childhood education, Teaching is more clarified in the revised curriculum. Swedish preschool education is moving towards a more formalized approach where teaching is more visible (Helenius, 2018). There is a consensus that early mathematics is important in policy and research but there is no agreement on how mathematics education should be implemented. There are differences between and within countries, a clear difference is the relation between play and teaching (Palmér & Björklund, 2016). The concepts of classification and framing are used to discuss the visibility of pedagogics in the formalization of teaching mathematics in preschool (Bernstein, 2000). This is a literature review regarding research on teaching mathematics in early childhood education. It draws from a number of scholarly research article conducted between 2014 and 2019. The data collection is in progress. Qualitative and quantitative content analysis will compare emerged codes. The expected results will consist of empirical research. Ethical consideration is met by showing respect and responsiveness to other researchers work. This literature review is based on peer-reviewed articles. Preliminary findings indicate differences in how teaching mathematics in preschool is described. Preschool in Sweden has a tradition of a play-based pedagogy and no formal assessment of children as many other countries. Perhaps, the change may push teaching to become more visible and formal (Helenius, 2018). Implications for policy and practice will be discussed.

As phenomena, time, and history, particularly the nature of the two and how to tell them apart, are not easily defined. In the tradition of historical consciousness, time, and the human understanding of the nature of time are defined as a part of a historical consciousness, where this may more or less evolved. In this study, students aged 11 were interviewed and asked what history and time are. Their answers consisted in three different ways of describing the nature of time: time as events, time as a continuous now, and time as continuous progress. How students described time was then compared to Rüsen’s (Rüsen, Retzlaff, & Wiklund, 2004; Rüsen, 2005) definitions of historical consciousness. The ability of younger children to under-stand time has been an issue debated in previous research. This study concludes that time and concept of time is understood by eleven- year-olds but in various forms. These various forms are essential knowledge for history teachers at all levels. There is evidence for historical consciousness, as described by Rüsen, however, in forms appropriate for their age.

We bound the dimensions of the graded pieces of the tautological ring of the universal curve from below for genus up to 27 and from above for genus up to 9. As a consequence we obtain the precise structure of the tautological ring of the universal curve for genus up to 9. In particular, we see that it is Gorenstein for these genera.

We compute the rational Betti cohomology groups of the coarse moduli spaces of geometrically marked Del Pezzo surfaces of degree 3 and 4 as representations of the Weyl groups of the corresponding root systems. The proof uses a blend of methods from point counting over finite fields and techniques from arrangement complements.

In his monumental study The mechanization of the world picture (Dijksterhuis, 1961), Eduard Dijksterhuis has documented how, in the 16th and 17th century, a mechanistic worldview emerged in modern science through developments in astronomy, mechanics, physics, chemistry and natural philosophy. Dijksterhuis marks the start of this process with the publication of Copernicus’ De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium in 1543 and sees its culmination point in the publication of Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Math matica in 1687. In the worldview of modern science physical reality is depicted as a deterministic mechanism operating according to causal laws. Many have taken the success of modern technology as evidence of the truth of the mechanistic worldview of modern science (see, for example, Gellner, 1992 and, for a critical discussion, Latour, 1987), on the assumption that it is the knowledge about the laws that govern the causal connections within the clockwork universe that makes prediction and control of physical reality possible. Some have even gone so far as to argue that the mechanistic worldview of modern science sets the standard for what is real and what is rational (on this way of thinking and the problems it has caused see Dewey, 1980; Biesta, 2009). Developments in such interrelated fields as complexity theory, dynamic systems theory and chaos theory have challenged both the accuracy and dominance of the mechanistic worldview. They have done this first of all by highlighting phenomena that cannot be captured as deterministic, linear processes, and secondly by developing vocabularies and ways of thinking that are able to make sense of such phenomena and talk about them in more productive ways.

The essays in this book all deal with a question which, in our view, has so far received insufficient attention in work that aims to explore the significance of complexity theory for education. 1 This is the question of the politics of complexity. Whereas a lot has been written about curriculum, pedagogy and learning, relatively little has been said directly about the ways in which complexity theory might help us to engage with questions concerning the politics of education and about how we might account for the politics of this engagement itself. We take “politics” here in the broad sense of having to do with questions of value andpower. For us it is obvious that value and power play a central role in all educational endeavours. In so far as we can see education as havingto do with ways of directing, structuring and evaluating human learning— bearing in mind that human learning is not a natural phenomenon but itself has to be understood as a construct—and in so far as we can see education as having to do with ways in which we direct, structure and evaluate the learning of others, questions of value and power are simply inevitable. Education opens uppathways and opportunities but also, and often at the very same time, limits, reduces and even closes down ways of doing and being (see Mollenhauer, 1983). Education, after all, always involves choices. Those who engage in the justification of educational choices often do so using a language of values, whereas those who engage in research on the ways in which education actually opens up and closes down often do so using a language of power. We see these as two sides of the same coin, as we do not think that “opening up” isnecessarily good or educationally desirable or that “narrowing down” is necessarily bad or educationally undesirable. What is far more important is to acknowledge that in education both “opening up” and “narrowing down” involve the exertion of power and in this sense can be said to be political. 

Computer programming education in schools has increased in recent years. It has been implemented in schools in different ways and contexts. Programming was embedded in the Swedish national curriculum in 2018, with a particular focus on the following compulsory subjects: mathematics, social sciences and technology. Teachers therefore face teaching completely new content within the current content domain in an already crowded curriculum. This is a major challenge, particularly in technology, due to the lack of Swedish and international research on how teachers can understand, implement and assess programming in schools. Nevertheless, collaborative assessment can lead to an increased understanding of teaching objectives and knowledge requirements. This study explored teachers’ assessment practices in programming in technology. Based on a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews (n = 14), the results show that teachers lack professional dialogues and are left alone to sort assessment out. Teachers also find it difficult to assess different levels and have low expectations. Suggestions are made for further research on which programming solutions should correspond to which assessment level.

There is a recognized need for research on how to teach computer programming in primary schools in Sweden grades 4–6 (10–12-year-old pupils). Studies of teaching show the importance of teachers’ knowledge of content and pedagogy and how these two parts affect each other (i.e. pedagogical content knowledge [PCK]). Most teachers in Sweden have little or no formal education in computer programming, the revised Swedish curriculum requires them to teach it. The aim of this study is to explore the pedagogical strategies teachers use when they teach computer programming. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 participants, comprising 12 teachers and 2 teacher trainers. The data were analysed deductively with themes from previous research. The results show that teachers use eight pedagogical strategies, including three new strategies that have been constructed inductively: do-it-yourself, gamification and progression. These eight pedagogical strategies are mostly general, and teachers may be considered regressed experts, as they lack formal training in computer programming. They facilitate learning in a general sense, but, compared to other subjects, their PCK in computer programming is problematized. In-service teacher training is needed to increase content knowledge, thus enabling to develop PCK in computer programming. It would also be fruitful to deepen our knowledge regarding pedagogical strategies in the PCK domain of computer programming.

There is a recognized need to understand the current state of programming implementation in the Swedish compulsory school system. This study focused specifically on the implementation of programming in the school subject of technology for grades 4–6. In Sweden, the responsibility for choosing teaching and learning material lies with individual teachers. Recent studies have indicated the prevalence of visual programming languages (VPLs) in classrooms. However, no empirical research has specifically investigated why teachers select particular programming learning environments (PLEs) and the challenges they have overcome in this process. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the PLEs used by teachers and the factors influencing their choices. In addition, this study explored the role of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and the influence of systemic and situational amplifiers and filters in shaping the programming education landscape, highlighting the importance of understanding these factors for effective implementation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 experienced programming teachers in grades 4–6 to gather insights. The results revealed that VPLs, particularly Scratch, have been widely adopted, but the study also identified three textual programming languages being utilized. Furthermore, the findings indicate that teachers’ previous education plays a significant role in shaping their PLE preferences. This suggests that programming education in both professional development and preservice teacher training is crucial for effective implementation. By investigating PLE choices and the factors influencing them, this study contributes to a better understanding of the current landscape of programming education in Sweden’s compulsory school system. 

This study aims to gain deeper insights in digital technology supported teaching in Swedish early childhood education (ECE) settings. Introduction of digital goals in Swedish ECE curriculum obliges preschool teachers to integrate digital technologies into educational practices and calls for a relevant definition and a defined content for this teaching area. By examining teachers’ perspectives, this thesis contributes to obtaining valuable experience-based knowledge that can eventually fill the existing research gap.  

In a curriculum context, digital technologies have traditionally been associated with technology as a teaching tool, while digital goals (i.e., training children’s digital competence) redefine technology as a teaching content. However, integrating digital technologies in educational practices is still reported to be a challenge, and preschool teachers demonstrate ambivalent attitudes towards use of digital technologies in play-based pedagogy. Previous research has shown that to embed technologies in preschool practices, teachers need to enhance their technological knowledge, which involves a complex coupling between technical knowledge and pedagogical expertise.

In the study, eleven preschool teachers were interviewed. A phenomenographic approach was used to identify and analyze the teachers’ conceptions. As a result, several categories related to digital technology use were discerned in teachers’ descriptions. Teaching situations were identified within both planned and spontaneous activities whilst activities for entertainment, relaxation and staff relief were referred to as mere “media consumption”. Paradoxically, nearly all teachers define digital technology supported teaching as a goal-directed, planned and adult-led activity. However, plenty of examples given by the teachers show that situations originating from spontaneous use of digital technology, particularly tablets, play an essential role in everyday teaching practices. Such a rigid understanding of the teaching concept on a definition level may have a counterproductive effect on ECE task with a traditional focus on child-initiated, spontaneous activities. 

Other findings show that various combinations of hard- and software (apps) may offer teachers multiple teaching options. However, lack of time and technical knowledge in one group of teachers is reported to lead to a scarce use of technologies. In most examples, digital technology is described as a teaching tool for training language, science, mathematics, or arts, while technology as a content is seen as a challenging task and focuses mainly on introducing programmable toys. The teachers describe several examples where technology does not align with their didactic intentions. However, tablet with Google Search is the technology that demonstrates both frequent and organic use. Providing immediate answers on the screen, tablets enable to capture children’s spontaneous questions and, at the same time, support teachers’ educational goals. The preschool teachers’ critical observations and didactic value judgements can contribute with a more nuanced view on what a particular digital technology makes possible in a certain teaching situation.  

Key words: early childhood education (ECE), preschool, digital technology supported teaching, digital competence, tablet, phenomenography, teachers’ beliefs. 

What counts as evidence of development in (language) teacher education research is not an easy question to tackle. Researchers who follow a qualitative paradigm use data collection tools like interviews and observations (e.g. Appleton and Kindt 2002), and focus on a variety of objects of development, for example, development in the practicalknowledge of designing and using tasks and activities (Wyatt and Borg 2011). Looking into the reflective practices of teachers and what teachers think they do in classrooms has been one of the common ways to investigate teacher development (e.g. Wyatt 2010). There may, however, be a gap between what teachers think they do and what they actually do in classrooms (Li 2017, 2020). Therefore, combining (1) analyses of actual teaching practices (e.g. by using discursive methods like conversation analysis) and (2) reflection and feedback practices that are stimulated by recorded videos can bring databased evidence to development, and at the same time be the drive behind development. Such an approach to investigating teacher development (over time) has recently been undertaken using reflective and evidence-based teacher education frameworks like IMDAT (Sert 2015, 2019). IMDAT initially (2015) combined video-recordings and teachers’ reflections to document change in teaching practices that are locally situated in classroom interactions. Integrating a mobile video-tagging tool like VEO (see Chapter 3) into the IMDAT teacher education framework can create affordances for evidence-based reflections and feedback that draw on tagged lesson videos. In this chapter, we draw on data collected as part of the VEO Europa project. VEO has been integrated into a pre-service language (i.e. English) teacher education programme that follows the IMDAT teacher education framework. IMDAT includes an initial training on classroom interaction practices, followed by lessons taught by candidate teachers. Post-observation feedback sessions between experts and novices (e.g. trainer-trainee, mentor-student teacher) are conducted after these lessons, which are then followed by written reflections of the student teachers (STs). The framework includes another round of teaching, this time observed by another peer – which is then followed by another post-observation feedback session and a process of critical reflective writing. This chapter reports findings based on one pre-service teacher’s video-recorded lessons that are analysed using conversation analysis (CA) methodology. Conversation analytic findings from classroom videos are complemented with audio-recorded feedback sessions as well as written reflections. By focusing on one interactional phenomenon, namely teacher questioning practices, we demonstrate how the focal teacher changes her questioning practices in the classroom over time, as she teaches, gets feedback from an expert and a peer, and reflects on her teaching practices. The findings have implications for (mobile) teacher education, as well as for situated and longitudinal research on classroom discourse that employs conversation analysis and other discursive methodologies.

Background: Given the disparities in gender representation, efforts are needed to make engineering education more inclusive and attractive to young people. It is important that those entering engineering education are making this decision with sufficient understanding of what it means to be an engineer. This study explored how lower secondary education students from Ireland (n = 435), Kenya (n = 436), and Sweden (n = 361) stereotyped engineers, and their interest in becoming an engineer was examined. The Draw an Engineer Test was used to achieve this, and ordinal and logistic regression analyses were conducted to compare the effects of students’ genders and country of schooling on the genders and concepts of their drawn engineers, and on their interest in becoming an engineer in the future. Results: A Sankey diagram illustrated significant complexity in the interaction between conceptions of engineering work and fields of engineering. Chi-square tests of association were used to examine the association between students depicting an engineer as either the same or a different gender to themselves and their interest in becoming an engineer. The results of these and the regression analyses indicate that young people’s gender explains more variance in the gender of drawn engineers and the country they are studying in explains more variance in their conception of engineers. However, most variance was explained when both students’ gender and country of study were considered together. Further, particularly for young females, drawing a female engineer as opposed to a male engineer was positively associated with increased interest in becoming an engineer. Conclusions: There is a need to develop a greater understanding of engineering in young people to ensure they have sufficient information to make decisions regarding related educational pursuits. National-level attempts are needed to present accurate depictions of engineering, and effort needs to be invested in ensuring that young females can identify as engineers. Higher educational access needs to be considered in future work examining future career interests. 

In this thesis, we introduce and study hom-associative Ore extensions. These are non-unital, non-associative, non-commutative polynomial rings in which the associativity condition is “twisted” by an additive group homomorphism. In particular, they are examples of hom-associative algebras, and they generalize the classical non-commutative polynomial rings introduced by Ore known as Ore extensions to the non-unital, hom-associative setting. At the same time, when the twisted associativity condition is null, they also generalize to the general non-unital, non-associative setting. We deduce necessary and sufficient conditions for hom-associative Ore extensions to exist, and construct concrete examples thereof. These include hom-associative generalizations of the quantum plane, the universal enveloping algebra of the two-dimensional non-abelian Lie algebra, and the first Weyl algebra, to name a few. The aforementioned algebras turn out to be formal hom-associative deformations of their associative counterparts, the latter two which cannot be formally deformed in the associative setting. Moreover, these are all weakly unital algebras, and we provide a way of embedding any multiplicative, non-unital hom-associative algebra into a multiplicative, weakly unital hom-associative algebra. This generalizes the classical unitalization of non-unital, associative algebras. We then study the hom-associative Weyl algebras in arbitrary characteristic, classify them up to isomorphism, and in the zero characteristic case, we prove that an analogue of the Dixmier conjecture is true. We also study hom-modules over hom-associative rings, and by doing so, we are able to prove a Hilbert's basis theorem for hom-associative Ore extensions. Our theorem includes as special cases both the classical Hilbert's basis theorem for Ore extensions and a Hilbert's basis theorem for unital, non-associative Ore extensions. Last, we construct examples of both hom-associative and non-associative Ore extensions which are all Noetherian by our theorem.

We introduce non-associative skew Laurent polynomial rings over unital, non-associative rings and prove simplicity results for these. We also generalize an already existing Hilbert’s basis theorem for non-associative Ore extensions and show that it implies a Hilbert’s basis theorem for non-associative skew Laurent polynomial rings. Moreover, we show that the above theorem can be extended to non-associative generalizations of both skew power series rings and skew Laurent series rings. We provide several examples to illustrate the applications of our results.

Criminalorganizationsexploittheirpresenceonterritories and local communities to recruit new workforce in order to carry out their criminal activities and business. The ability to attract individuals is crucial for maintaining power and control over the territories in which these groups are settled. This study proposes the formalization, development and analysis of an agent-based model (ABM) that simulates a neighborhood of Palermo (Sicily) with the aim to understand the pathways that lead individuals to recruitment into organized crime groups (OCGs). Using empirical data on social, economic and criminal conditions of the area under analysis, we use a multi-layer network approach to simulate this scenario. As the final goal, we test different policies to counter recruitment into OCGs. These scenarios are based on two different dimensions of prevention and intervention: (i) primary and secondary socialization and (ii) law enforcement targeting strategies.

A great deal of ecological theory is based on simple Lotka-Volterra-type of unstructured population models in the study of complex population dynamics and communities. The main reason is to obtain important information for predicting their future evolution. In these unstructured models, it is assumed that all individuals in the population are identical, with the same birth and death rates, and consume equally from shared resources in a homogeneous environment. In reality, these assumptions are not biologically true but still forms a basis for modeling population ecology. We apply this paradigm on the grazing system consisting of coupled ordinary differential equations describing the dynamics of forage resource and livestock population in a grassland ecosystem. We do this by investigating the dynamics of the individuals at different life-history stages of juvenile and adult livestock. The mathematical derivation of the model is carried out to show how the physiologically structured population model can be approximated using a three stage-structured population model. Thus the resulting system of ordinary differential equations can be solved to predict density-dependent properties of the population since it provides a somewhat close-to-reality description of the natural and traditional grazing system. This model therefore certainly contains the needed information in the modeling methodology and accommodates the necessary amount of biological details about the population.

The errors arising in ab initio density functional theory studies of semiconductor point defects using the supercell approximation are analyzed. It is demonstrated that (a) the leading finite size errors are inverse linear and inverse cubic in the supercell size and (b) finite size scaling over a series of supercells gives reliable isolated charged defect formation energies to around +-0.05 eV. The scaled results are used to test three correction methods. The Makov-Payne method is insufficient, but combined with the scaling parameters yields an ab initio dielectric constant of 11.6+-4.1 for InP. Gamma point corrections for defect level dispersion are completely incorrect, even for shallow levels, but realigning the total potential in real-space between defect and bulk cells actually corrects the electrostatic defect-defect interaction errors as well. Isolated defect energies to +-0.1 eV are then obtained using a 64 atom supercell, though this does not improve for larger cells. Finally, finite size scaling of known dopant levels shows how to treat the band gap problem: in < or = 200 atom supercells with no corrections, continuing to consider levels into the theoretical conductin band (extended gap) comes closest to experiment. However, for larger cells or when supercell approximation errors are removed, a scissors scheme stretching the theoretical band gap onto the experimental one is in fact correct.