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This study examines the Swedish Public Health Agency’s (PHA) crisis communication regarding the COVID-19 pandemic during the year of 2020. Departing from a synthesis of the frameworks of Image Repair Theory and Bureaucratic Reputation Theory, the PHA’s online press conferences are critically analyzed to map out how the PHA’s representatives react to reputational threats that occur alongside and in connection to its management of the crisis at hand. With reputational threats is meant allegations or incidents that risk shedding a negative light on the organization in question. The aim is to explore the applicability of said frameworks in a new empirical, crisis communicative context, but also to contribute to the understanding of what role reputational concerns play in public organizations’ crisis communication; an aspect that I argue has been overlooked in the crisis communication-literature. Departing from a definition of reputational threats as either criticism (where the PHA have been publicly questioned or criticized) or acts of reversal (where something seemingly changes in the PHA’s approach), five situations and six corresponding press conferences are selected for examination. A rhetorical analysis based on the logic of accusation (kategoria) and defense (apologia) finds several instances of what can be classified as verbal defense-strategies in the PHA’s crisis communication, but also interesting variations depending on what the threat is about or where it comes from. The PHA’s only constant reaction across press conferences is found to be initial silence: to wait until the issue at hand is brought up by someone else (in this case, a journalist participating at the press conference). The insights of this study pose challenges to current scholarly understandings of crisis communication within the public sector and showcase opportunities for future studies of the same.

The purpose of our study is to investigate social workers' experiences of the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) into Swedish law and how it affects their work. The study is based on the following two questions; 1) in what way do social workers feel that the implementation of the CRC into Swedish law has influenced their work involving children?, and 2) how do social workers experience their discretion in applying the CRC after the convention became law? This is a qualitative study based on semi-structured, open interviews with six social workers whose tasks involve taking authoritative decisions regarding children. The analysis has two theoretical points of departure, namely; top-down- and bottom-up perspectives, and discretion. The most relevant findings were that social workers had different experiences of how the convention had been implemented at their respective workplaces. The reasons for variation in implementation and the consequences of the lack of implementation could be recognized in four different themes: Guidance by the implementation and application, Discretion by interpretation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Children's participation - an already experienced practice and Implementation and application during the covid-19 pandemic. Through our analysis we connected the themes to different reasons for shortcomings in the conditions of a good implementation of a new law. Further, we analyzed the themes through the theory of top-down- and bottom-up, and discretion. Our second finding was that, despite the lack of change in some workplaces, the change that did take place was mostly social, that is, there was an increased feeling of empowerment to put the child first. The change also took a practical shape in the form of new methods and rules. The conclusion of the second finding was that all the changes should be in benefit for children's participation. Over all our findings suggest that the incorporation of CRC as a Swedish law has affected social workers' practices due to the fact that children’s human rights are taking a more prominent position.

In times of increasing digitization, the protection of individual data privacy becomes more important than ever before. To craft privacy policies that do not only meet legal requirements, but also address the public’s concerns, understanding individual privacy attitudes is key. Previous research suggests that privacy attitudes depend on a set of parameters related to the data type, data collector and other situational characteristics. However, the importance of single situational characteristics may possibly be altered by changes in the environment. This circumstance becomes apparent and even more important with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic constitutes an exceptional situation in which individuals may be willing to transmit more personal data than usual for the sake of public health and safety. In this study, we analyze how attitudes towards acceptable data use shift in times of crisis. In July 2019, long before the pandemic, we conducted a survey in Germany in which we measured respondents’ acceptance of the collection and use of health data for public health purposes including preventing the spread of a virus. As the pandemic set in, we replicated this survey in the spring of 2020 to investigate changes in respondents’ willingness to share data for public health purposes in response to the crisis. Using data from 3,502 respondents, we demonstrate and quantify the shift in privacy attitudes with situational characteristics. Public acceptance of the use of personal health data to combat an infectious disease outbreak increased notably, while acceptance of personal data use in several other scenarios barely changed over time. We conclude that policymakers need to carefully consider the intended purpose of and appropriate limitations on data use for public health and argue that the design of data collection tools should meet both public health and privacy concerns.

This thesis aims to analyse the presence of post-truth characteristics in the public sphere, using the case study of the highly debated COVID-19 vaccines in Europe. Since 2016, the concept of post-truth has received increased attention in academia, particularly around the intense polarization of issues such as partisan voting, climate change, and vaccination. While prior studies have focused significantly on the impacts and emergence conditions of the post-truth phenomenon, empirical studies on the prevalence of post-truth in everyday public activities have yet to be written. In response, this thesis conceptualises post-truth into five characteristics that are described in the existing literature: (i) disagreement about fact, (ii) personal experience and emotion, (iii) neglect of fact, (iv) truth-seeking, and (v) discredit of and distrust in experts. Based on these characteristics, this thesis qualitatively analyses the content of the comments on the European Commission’s Facebook posts concerning the COVID-19 vaccine. Descriptive analysis of 362 user-generated comments shows that groups with varying attitudes toward vaccination display most of the post-truth characteristics described in the existing literature. The results suggest that the group of people who are influenced by the post-truth culture is wider than anticipated. Furthermore, this thesis alters prior understandings of post-truth culture by showing that the opponents of vaccines do not display strong emotions or use personal experiences when discussing vaccination with the others. Public health authorities therefore might take these results into consideration for future vaccination campaigns. Lastly, this study posits some associations between post-truth characteristics and calls for further qualitative research on the matter.

Studier visar att internetanvändningen bland den svenska befolkningen fortsätter att växa varje år och har under de senaste tio åren ökat mest för den äldre målgruppen. Trots detta har de flesta applikationer som utvecklas inte tagit hänsyn till seniorer. Detta blir problematiskt då åldrande kan orsaka försämrad fysisk och kognitiv förmåga samt nedsatt syn, vilka gör det svårare att använda applikationerna. Utöver det har ett nytt problem uppkommit på grund av den pågående covid-19- pandemin. Eftersom viruset är mer dödligt med åldern, har det orsakat en ökning av ensamheten bland äldre då social distansering krävs för att bromsa smittan. Det är viktigt för äldre att hålla kontakt med anhöriga och vänner, vilket är anledningen till att en videosamtalstjänst anpassad för seniorer är relevant. Detta projekt syftade till att skapa en videosamtalstjänst anpassad till äldres behov och förmågor. Ett resultat framställdes genom att använda en iterativ design- och utvecklingsprocess där en prototyp av applikationen byggdes, testades och utvärderades för varje iteration. Totalt gjordes tre iterationer, där det framställdes en mjukvaruprotoyp i den tredje. Baserat på de tre iterationerna såväl som tidigare studier om design för seniorer, kunde en slutgiltig prototyp utvecklas. Detta är en nästintill komplett applikation där användare kan hantera kontakter, ändra informationen i sin profil och dra nytta av ett fullt fungerande videosamtal. Efter positiv respons från användartesterna blev det uppenbart att videosamtalsapplikationen är anpassad för målgruppen till en godkänd nivå. På grund av tidsbegränsningar kunde dock vissa funktioner inte slutföras. Dessutom blev det svårt att hitta tillräckligt med testare inom målgruppen på grund av tidsbegränsningar såväl som fysiska begränsningar som orsakades av pandemin. Därför måste vidare medverkan med seniorer göras innan produkten kan anses vara helt slutförd.

A growing body of literature on the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is becoming available, but a synthesis of available data has not been conducted. We performed a scoping review of currently available clinical, epidemiological, laboratory, and chest imaging data related to the SARS-CoV-2 infection. We searched MEDLINE, Cochrane CENTRAL, EMBASE, Scopus and LILACS from 01 January 2019 to 24 February 2020. Study selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment were performed by two independent reviewers. Qualitative synthesis and meta-analysis were conducted using the clinical and laboratory data, and random-e ects models were applied to estimate pooled results. A total of 61 studies were included (59,254 patients). The most common disease-related symptoms were fever (82%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 56%–99%; n = 4410), cough (61%, 95% CI 39%–81%; n = 3985), muscle aches and/or fatigue (36%, 95% CI 18%–55%; n = 3778), dyspnea (26%, 95% CI 12%–41%; n = 3700), headache in 12% (95% CI 4%–23%, n = 3598 patients), sore throat in 10% (95% CI 5%–17%, n = 1387) and gastrointestinal symptoms in 9% (95% CI 3%–17%, n=1744). Laboratory findings were described in a lower number of patients and revealed lymphopenia (0.93 109/L, 95% CI 0.83–1.03 109/L, n = 464) and abnormal C-reactive protein (33.72 mg/dL, 95% CI 21.54–45.91 mg/dL; n = 1637). Radiological findings varied, but mostly described ground-glass opacities and consolidation. Data on treatment options were limited. All-cause mortality was 0.3% (95% CI 0.0%–1.0%; n = 53,631). Epidemiological studies showed that mortality was higher in males and elderly patients. The majority of reported clinical symptoms and laboratory findings related to SARS-CoV-2 infection are non-specific. Clinical suspicion, accompanied by a relevant epidemiological history, should be followed by early imaging and virological assay.

Developing artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has become a business of power. AI innovation is increasingly centralized in a few large companies – mainly, Google, Facebook, and Apple.1 Specialized data scientists - the backbone of these institutions - understand how AI functions, further creating a power dynamic between the layperson and the corporatized specialist. In the age of COVID-19, we have all become more reliant on technology companies and innovations to fulfill the needs of our new digital lives. We have little choice but to trust them in developing the AI technologies of the future. non-peer-reviewed

Am 4./5. Mai 2020 fand der 10. KIM Workshop statt. Durch die COVID-19-Pandemie konnte die Veranstaltung nicht wie gewohnt in Mannheim abgehalten werden, sondern wurde kurzerhand in eine Online-Veranstaltung umgewandelt. Im Folgenden möchten wir auf einige organisatorische Punkte dieser Online-Veranstaltung eingehen und unsere Erfahrungen dabei für andere Online-Veranstalter teilen. Zudem haben wir gegen Ende des Online-Workshops auch einige Fragen an die TeilnehmerInnen gestellt, welche hier zusammen mit den Antworten integriert werden.

Through a single case study, we expand on pre-existing M&A research by examining how M&A processes have been affected by the increased information asymmetry as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and what implications it will have on these processes going forward. By conducting a case study on a strategic serial acquirer in the technology industry, this thesis shed light on how firms within this industry react towards such a market shock and alter processes in order to adapt to the new circumstances. Based on a triangulation of document analysis and interviews with key employees of the case firm we find that the M&A strategy in terms of screening process and target criteria was not changed due to the pandemic. The most affected processes are the initiation of contact with target companies and the due-diligence process. There is a perceived loss of deep insight into target firms, trust and relationship building due to the vanishing of physical meetings, which is argued to be the largest change to the firm’s M&A processes. In addition to this, specific Covid-related aspects are taken into consideration, such as a more intense and differentiated focus on the liquidity and generation as well as origins of cash flows of targets during the due diligence process, compared to before the pandemic. Further, implications for the future mainly concern the possibility of increased productivity, inclusion and alignment of interests in the post-merger integration work, and the importance of trust and long-lasting relationships as an inherent part of the M&A strategy. MSc in Accounting and Financial Management