Jönköping University

Thermal conductivity is an important property for many iron cast components, and the lack of widely accepted thermal conductivity model for cast iron, especially grey cast iron, motivates the efforts in this research area. The present study contributes to understanding the effects alloy microstructure has on thermal conductivity. A thermal conductivity model for a pearlitic cast iron has been proposed, based on the as-cast alloy composition and microstructural parameters obtained at different solidification rates. According to the model, available parallel heat transfer paths formed by connected graphite flakes across eutectic cells are determined by the space between dendrite arms. The uncertainties both for model inputs and for validation measurements have been estimated. Sensitivity analysis has been conducted to result in better understanding of the model behaviour. The agreement between modelled and measured thermal conductivities has been achieved within 5% on the average for the investigated samples.

Porosity is the culprit for a large fraction of scrap in cast iron foundries, resulting in significant environmental and productivity losses. The present work focuses on characterizing and explaining porosity defects in industrial compacted and nodular graphite cast iron components, utilizing current literature for reference. The goal is to identify existing knowledge gaps in the field, fostering further research work. Complex-shaped castings were sampled from three foundries, weighing between 100 and 300 kg. These were carefully selected to capture recurring defects during stable production. The mechanisms behind these defects were discussed, and the findings were compared to the literature. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the inner surfaces of the pores with secondary electron imaging. The surrounding microstructure was captured with optical microscopy in combination with image analysis, where panoramic images and nodularity maps were built. Ultimately, etching based on Si segregation was employed. The results suggest that the understanding of pore surface film formation remains limited, particularly regarding graphite film formation. Notably, the observations reveal a multitude of previously unreported graphite structures within the pores, some with particles in their centers containing Ce, Ca, La and S. These novel structures can provide additional insights regarding pore formation chronology.

Background In Sweden, population‐based targeted health dialogues are an important part of health promotion and disease prevention in primary health care. Targeted health dialogues are performed with a pedagogical approach to allow individuals to reflect over their resources, situation and motivation to change lifestyle habits together with a healthcare professional. Aim The aim of this study was to explore healthcare professionals' experiences of targeted health dialogues in primary health care. Methods Three focus group interviews were conducted with 20 healthcare professionals. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results The main category A possibility to promote healthy behaviours and prevent disease describes how the targeted health dialogues were experienced as a valuable opportunity to promote health among inhabitants. The significance of the primary healthcare centre's health promotion and prevention strategies was emphasised to enable the targeted health dialogues as a part of the assignment to promote health. These strategies were expressed as shared focus and organisational space and support making it possible for example to reach all socioeconomic groups. The work with targeted health dialogue was described as a complex task requiring extensive competence. Furthermore, the pedagogical tool including the visual health profile was experienced to have an important impact on the dialogue offering direction for actions to promote health and prevent disease. Conclusions Targeted health dialogues can be a valuable opportunity for healthcare professionals in primary health care to promote a healthy lifestyle among inhabitants. Certain preconditions at both the meso‐ and the micro level is however required for this to come about.

Research in leading entrepreneurship and management journals has tended to conceptualize entrepreneurship as motivated by the goals of wealth, income, or social value creation. This research has thus largely overlooked entrepreneurial motivations such as the desire to engage in particular activities that the entrepreneurs find rewarding or the desire to live in particular locations. The literature on such Lifestyle Entrepreneurship (LE) includes research on artisan, artistic, craft, creative, fitness, hobbyist, leisure, sport, and tourism entrepreneurship. This literature has grown quickly over the last decade, but it is scattered across a range of domains, disciplines, and journals and lacks conceptual clarity. In this review, we take stock, synthesize and offer definitions and a framework for investigation of LE that allows for its development and theoretical integration with, and contribution to, existing entrepreneurship theory. We conceptualize LE in relation to its purpose and function, identify different types of LE, and examine their respective antecedents, behaviours, and outcomes. We propose a research agenda based on the merits of viewing LE as a distinctive and theoretically important domain for the study of entrepreneurship and highlight the vital role that LE plays in enriching both individual and social welfare.

Background Co-production is promoted as an effective way of improving the quality of health and social care but the diversity of measures used in individual studies makes their outcomes difficult to interpret. Objective The objective is to explore how empirical studies in health and social care have described the outcomes of co-production projects and how those outcomes were measured. Design and methods A scoping review forms the basis for this systematic review. Search terms for the concepts (co-produc* OR coproduc* OR co-design* OR codesign*) and contexts (health OR ‘public service* OR “public sector”) were used in: CINAHL with Full Text (EBSCOHost), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled trials (Wiley), MEDLINE (EBSCOHost), PsycINFO (ProQuest), PubMed (legacy) and Scopus (Elsevier). There was no date limit. Papers describing the process, original data and outcomes of co-production were included. Protocols, reviews and theoretical, conceptual and psychometric papers were excluded. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guideline was followed. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool underpinned the quality of included papers. Results 43 empirical studies were included. They were conducted in 12 countries, with the UK representing >50% of all papers. No paper was excluded due to the Mixed Methods Quality Appraisal screening and 60% of included papers were mixed methods studies. The extensive use of self-developed study-specific measures hampered comparisons and cumulative knowledge-building. Overall, the studies reported positive outcomes. Co-production was reported to be positively experienced and provided important learning. Conclusions The lack of common approaches to measuring co-production is more problematic than the plurality of measurements itself. Co-production should be measured from three perspectives: outputs of co-production processes, the experiences of participating in co-production processes and outcomes of co-production. Both self-developed study-specific measures and established measures should be used. The maturity of this research field would benefit from the development and use of reporting guidelines.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to illuminate the experience of caring touch in intensive care from the perspectives of patients, next-of-kin, and healthcare professionals. Design and Method: This study was explorative, and data were collected through qualitative observations ( n = 9) with subsequent interviews ( n = 27) at two general intensive care units. An inductive approach was embraced to be open-minded to the participants’ experiences. Findings: The results are presented in one generic category—caring touch creates presence—which generated five subcategories: to touch and be touched with respect, touch as guidance and communication, touch causes suffering, touch creates compassion, and touch creates security. Conclusion: When the ability to communicate with words is lost, it is body language that reveals what a person is trying to express. Nurses create a way of being present with the patients by touching them, to communicate I am here for you. Caring touch is a tool to show compassion and respect and to protect the integrity of the lived body. The caring touch is soothing and comforting for the patient and next-of-kin and creates security. It also helps to awaken the motivation to get healthy, which is needed in an environment that is foreign.

Entrepreneurs can benefit from the communities they build. Therefore, many entrepreneurs create online communities that allow self-selected stakeholders, such as customers, crowd investors, or enthusiasts, to interact with the venture and other like-minded individuals. However, research on how entrepreneurs can successfully engage community members and grow such online communities is only slowly emerging. In particular, it is unclear if, how much, and which content entrepreneurs should contribute to foster engagement in different types of communities and which role these community types play in the community’s overall growth. Based on a longitudinal case study in the video game industry, we first theorize and show that—depending on the community type—both too much and too little entrepreneur-provided content fails to leverage community engagement potential and that different communities require more or less diverging content. We then theorize and show that community growth is largely driven by engagement in open communities, such as those hosted on social media. We outline the implications this has for entrepreneurs, our understanding of online communities, and entrepreneurial communities more generally.

BACKGROUND: To assess relevant environmental conditions in any work-setting requires a multidisciplinary perspective that is practical, valid, and reliable. This includes the physical, environmental, and psychosocial risk-factors. The Structured Multidisciplinary work Evaluation Tool (SMET) questionnaire simultaneously considers multiple work-related demands. OBJECTIVE: This study translated and culturally adapted the SMET into Persian and evaluated its psychometric properties in Persian industrial workers. METHODS: Cross-sectional translation and cross-cultural adaptation in five standardized phases. A convenience sample (n = 211) recruited from an industrial-occupation setting completed: the SMET; and the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) criteria; plus light and noise levels were concurrently assessed. Psychometric properties included: validity, with face (from confirmed language clarity, simplicity, and readability), content (via the content validity index, CVI, for equivalency and relevancy), criterion (through Pearson’s r correlation with relevant criteria), and construct (through known group validity between participants with/without work-related musculoskeletal disorders, WMSDs); internal consistency (Cronbach’s α); and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC2.1). RESULTS: Validity was confirmed with: face through the adaptation; content from suitable CVI values for items (CVI range = 0.78–1.0) and scale-total (CVI = 0.86); criterion from SMET associations with levels for light (r = – 0.42) and noise (r = 0.21), plus RULA (r = 0.42) and NASA-TLX (r = 0.39); and construct through participants with WMSD having significantly higher SMET total-scores (p = 0.01). Internal consistency (α= 0.89) and reliability (ICC2.1 = 0.87) were acceptable and strong. CONCLUSION: This study indicated that the SMET Persian version had acceptable psychometric properties in an industrial occupational setting. Further investigation in longitudinal populations is recommended.

Capacity planning strategies mainly refer to manufacturing contexts. With an increased demand of customized products, engineer-to-order (ETO) is likely to be more common for further products and companies. Capacity estimations and loading principles for engineering tend to have more uncertainties than in manufacturing and are not well documented. A side-effect from another study turned out to be a model with the aim to structure the underlying mechanisms of capacity and load for engineering. The study was looking at machine learning (ML) predictions to be used to improve engineering loading models for supporting tactical decision makings which usually was based on a large portion of experience and emotions rather than data. The study was performed in a case company in an ETO context. The model contributed to get a business understanding for the project team and to specify the scope of the ML-project. The model was also useful when investigating the required and available data for the ML-project. This model might be useful for other practitioners struggling to improve engineering capacity and load models with or without ML, but also for scholars to improve further.

The research in this paper focused on (i) to increase the knowledge about the strategic role of automation technology and (ii) how automation technology investment decisions can be aligned with the strategy in manufacturing SMEs. This paper describes the design, application, and evaluation of the Strategic Development Map (SDM) in three settings, whereof two manufacturing SMEs. The SDM was also applied in more than 500 SMEs in a Swedish initiative called the Robot Lift. The SDM was derived from existing literature about Toyota management principles and thereafter adapted to the topic. The process of designing, testing, and evaluating the tool was inspired by design science research. It also contains explanations of the outcomes and mechanisms that lead to the successful adaptation and use of the SDM. The SDM provides a structured guidance process to understand the strategic role of automation technology investments in SMEs. This process can support companies towards a deeper understanding of the current state, target state and obstacles and challenges to reach the target with a focus on automation technology investments. The SDM was emphasized by companies and external coaches as very simple to understand and use. Using the SDM increased involvement and knowledge about strategic role of automation technology.

The last three years have been a challenge for many businesses and have emphasized the need for resilience. An important leaver to achieve resilience is inventory management. Having the right level of inventory has proven to be extremely difficult, especially for semiconductors with their long process lead-times and scarcity. Many companies have transitioned from just-in-time to just-in-case supply chains and from being faced with under-absorption due to lack of material to being faced with over-supply and over-stock situation when the demand eased up. The lack of an integrated view of customer demand and supply changes can lead to the bullwhip effect where uncertainty at every tier of supply can lead to inflated stock levels for each successive upstream tier. Consequently, the business implications of the fast development from undersupply to oversupply is widely seen in the quarterly reports for 2022Q3 and in the profit warnings for 2022Q4 where companies explained the reduced profits due to inventory reduction in the retail distribution. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the decision making during the pandemic, and what changes companies have implemented to achieve more resilient supply chains for semiconductors. Did the pendulum swing too extreme from just-in-time to just-in-case? This is answered by a literature review and an exploratory survey among Swedish manufacturing companies. The result is the identification of challenges for Swedish companies in achieving sustainable resilient supply chains instead of mitigating the disruptions.

The popularity and advancement of smartphones generate a new phenomenon of smartphone addiction. To promote early identification of individuals at risk of smartphone addiction, healthcare providers could assess if an individual has nomophobia (i.e., anxiety and worry of having no smartphone at hand). The present study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) across four countries: China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Iran. Via cross-sectional design and convenience sampling, 7871 participants (5969 Chinese, 534 Bangladeshi, 666 Pakistani, and 702 Iranian) completed the NMP-Q. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and network analysis were used to examine the psychometric properties of the NMP-Q across the four countries. CFA identified a four-factor structure (Tucker-Lewis index = 0.934, comparative fit index = 0.943, standardized root mean square residual = 0.037, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.079) for the NMP-Q, and the four-factor structure was measurement invariant across genders and countries. Network analysis results supported the CFA findings via visualized correlations among the NMP-Q items. The four-factor structure of the NMP-Q was consistently found in the four countries of China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Iran, indicating that the NMP-Q includes four specific domains. Measurement invariance suggests the NMP-Q may effectively assess nomophobia across genders and countries.

Assembly is crucial in the automotive industry, and regulations aimed to increase circularity impact the production systems. From this perspective different strategies are emerging related to sustainability and to the End-of-life Vehicles directive, perspectives often captured by “R-words” like Reuse, Recycle, Rethink etc. This paper is based on a literature search inspired by different R-words related to circularity and assembly in the automotive industry in combination with industrial workshops on the same theme. The results explore what challenges to manage during the ongoing green transition in the context of assembly in automotive. Recover, Repair, Reuse and Recycle are the most common terms found in the literature. Furthermore, Remanufacturing stands out as of particular interest to the automotive industry. However, based on the industrial workshops, Rethink as a collective word is an important perspective as well. The conclusions indicate that digitalization can be an enabler but also that there is a need for developing a common understanding about definitions and utilization of engineering tools supporting circularity.

Increasing political polarization in the United States and worldwide necessitates understanding of the key factors that can help shift different political groups' attitudes and behaviors regarding vital issues. In this article, we provide a systematic review of the research literature on political ideology and persuasion. By organizing the literature at three levels (self, social, and system), we propose an organizing framework for thinking about various persuasive factors that can encourage attitude and behavior change among conservatives and liberals. Our review highlights that considering the three levels at which persuasion operates can guide future theory and research, as well as provide practical tools for marketers and policymakers wishing to decrease ideological extremity and foster attitude and behavior change across both sides of the political divide.

This study provides principles for designing new corrosion resistant high entropy alloys. The theoretical framework is a percolation model developed by Newman and Sieradzki that predicts the ability of an alloy to passivate, i.e., to form a protective surface oxide, based on its composition. Here, their model is applied to more complex materials than previously, namely amorphous CrFeNiTa and CrFeNiW alloys. Furthermore, the model describes a more complex passivation process: reforming the oxide layer above the transpassive potential of Cr. The model is used to predict the lowest concentration of Ta or W required to extend the passive region, yielding 11–14 at% Ta and 14–17 at% W. For CrFeNiTa, experiments reveal a threshold value of 13–15 at% Ta, which agrees with the prediction. For CrFeNiW, the experimentally determined threshold value is 37–45 at% W, far above the predicted value. Further investigations explore why the percolation model fails to describe the CrFeNiW system; key factors are the higher nobility and the pH sensitivity of W. These results demonstrate some limitations of the percolation model and offer complementary passivation criteria, while providing a design route for combining the properties of the 3d transition metal and refractory metal groups.

Modular production has been recognized as a pivotal approach for enhancing productivity and cost reduction within the industrialized building industry. In the pursuit of further optimization of production processes, the concept of cognitive modular production (CMP) has been proposed, aiming to integrate digital twins (DTs), artificial intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies into modular production systems. This fusion would imbue these systems with perception and decision-making capabilities, enabling autonomous operations. However, the efficacy of this approach critically hinges upon the ability to comprehend the production process and its variations, as well as the utilization of IoT and cognitive functionalities. Knowledge graphs (KGs) represent a type of graph database that organizes data into interconnected nodes (entities) and edges (relationships), thereby providing a visual and intuitive representation of intricate systems. This study seeks to investigate the potential fusion of KGs into CMP to bolster decision-making processes on the production line. Empirical data were collected through a computerized self-administered questionnaire (CSAQ) survey, with a specific emphasis on exploring the potential benefits of incorporating KGs into CMP. The quantitative analysis findings underscore the effectiveness of integrating KGs into CMP, particularly through the utilization of visual representations that depict the relationships between diverse components and subprocesses within a virtual environment. This fusion facilitates the real-time monitoring and control of the physical production process. By harnessing the power of KGs, CMP can attain a comprehensive understanding of the manufacturing process, thereby supporting interoperability and decision-making capabilities within modular production systems in the industrialized building industry.