The aim of this essay is to identify common problems associated with free will and determinism in two authors, originating from different social contexts. As well as different time perspectives. The authors and books chosen for this purpose is Brainstorms written by Daniel C. Dennett, and  The Free Choice of the Will by Augustine of Hippo. The essay identifies two problems: evil and beliefs, and examines how the authors approach these issues from a hermeneutic framework. With support in the method the essay has furthermore defined the concepts behind the words determinism and libertarianism, and used these to navigate the questions it means to present answers to. In addition to the theories above, an idea analysis has been applied to structure and examine whether the logic behind the arguments are reasonable. The essay presents the both authors' views on the problems whilst trying to maintain an objective viewpoint in the process.  The study has reached the following conclusions; The problem with evil is an issue discussed during a long period of time. Whether you consider yourself an atheist or a religious person the concern about evil is relevant. The difference of view depends on your philosophy of life. Daniel C. Dennett approaches the problem with scientific explanations, while Augustine tends to seek for answers in God. Augustine believes that the problem has its roots in free will, namely that we are free to choose either sin or virtue. Dennett identifies the same root to the problem but with a scientific point of view.  The problem with beliefs is approached by the authors with a different stance concerning both writers. Dennett examines the structure behind our opinions and beliefs, which leads him to the conclusion that often enough our opinions are not our own, but a product of our environment. The essay connects this with his view on the deterministic and free universe. Augustine draws on another aspect of the issue, his main focus is not belief in its broad meaning, but in the will and need to search for truth and virtue.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur AI gestaltas i tidningarna Resumé och Dagens Media som är inriktade på media- och kommunikation. Detta uppnås genom att studera tidningarnas artiklar om AI. Studien undersöker vilka gestaltningar som förekommer i artiklarna och om tidningarna uppfyller UNESCO:s riktlinjer om hur journalister bör rapportera om AI. De gestaltningar som undersöks är sociala framsteg, Pandora´s box, ekonomisk utveckling/konkurrenskraft, utfallsframe och tidsperspektiv. Det undersöks även hur ofta AI ersätter syssla förekommer. De riktlinjer från UNESCO som undersöktes var AI:s begränsningar, det mänskliga arbetet, land, andra röster, suggestiva bilder och miljöaspekter. Det teoretiska ramverk som studien bygger på är gestaltningsteorin och teknologisk determinism. Studiens resultat visar att Resumé och Dagens Media Resumé tenderar att skildra AI som eftersträvansvärt genom att beskriva konsekvenserna av att använda AI som något läsaren vinner på. AI gestaltas även som en teknik som, helt eller delvis, kommer ersätta sysslor och arbetsuppgifter i mediabranschen. De variabler som kommer från UNESCO:s riktlinjer förekommer generellt sätt mindre. Resultatet visar att tidningarna skildrar AI som en teknik som utvecklas av sig själv, inte går att kontrollera, har få begränsningar, inte får mycket kritik, inte påverkar miljön och kan likställas med en människa. Således anammar de teorin teknologisk determinism, och i synnerhet de typer som kallas justificatory och normative. / The purpose of this study is to examine how AI is framed in Swedish news media oriented toward media and communication. This is achieved by studying the magazines Resumé and Dagens Media´s articles about AI. This study examines which frames can be found in the articles and if the magazines manage to fulfill recommended guidelines created by UNESCO on how journalists should report on AI. The frames that are examined are social progress, Pandora´s box, economic development/competitiveness, outcome frame and temporal frame. It is also examined how often AI replaces a task.  The UNESCO guidelines that are examined are the limitations of AI, the human labor behind AI, country, other voices, suggestive images and environmental aspects. The theoretical frameworks the study is built upon are framing theory and technological determinism. The study´s results show that Resumé and Dagens Media tend to portray AI as something desirable by describing the consequences of using AI as something the reader will benefit from. AI is also portrayed as a technology that will, completely or partially, replace tasks within the media industry. The variables that derive from the UNESCO guidelines generally occur less. The result shows that the magazines portray AI as a technology that can evolve by itself, cannot be controlled, have few limitations, does not get much critique, does not affect the environment, and can be equated with a human being. Therefore, the theory technological determinism is applied by the magazines, especially the types that are called justificatory and normative.

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Bakgrund: Psykisk ohälsa är ett omfattande begrepp som innefattar såväl diagnoser, tillstånd och symtom. Behandlingen är idag psykologisk samt farmakologisk men även fysisk aktivitet rekommenderas. Främst beskrivs betydelsen av fysisk aktivitet i grupp. Exempel på fysioterapeutiska behandlingar gentemot patientgruppen är anpassad fysisk aktivitet och olika former av kropps-och medvetandeträning. Vidare kan fysioterapeuter med ett beteendemedicinskt synsätt arbeta med att integrera biologiska, psykologiska och sociala faktorer.  Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva fysioterapeuters erfarenheter av gruppträning för patienter med mild till måttlig psykisk ohälsa. Metod: Deskriptiv kvalitativ design. Med ett ändamålsenligt urval och snöbollsurval rekryterades sex fysioterapeuter inom mellersta Sverige. Vidare tillämpades en kvalitativ innehållsanalys med induktiv ansats. Resultat: Studien resulterade i fem kategorier: ”Viktiga faktorer för deltagande”, ”Barriärer för följsamhet”, ”Upplevda effekter av rörelse i grupp”, ”Flera träningsformer och strukturer kan fungera” och ”Ledarens personliga egenskaper och yrkesskicklighet gynnar medverkan”.  Slutsats: Studien bidrar till en ökad förståelse av faktorer som fysioterapeuten anser vara betydande för patienters deltagande, motivation och följsamhet till gruppträning. I resultatet framkommer också erfarenheter av att gruppträning är ett bra behandlingsalternativ och att den gruppdynamiska processen är fördelaktig för patientgruppen. / Background: Mental illness is a comprehensive concept that includes both diagnoses, conditions, and symptoms. Treatment is currently psychological and pharmacological, but physical activity is also recommended. Mainly the importance of physical activity in a group is described. Examples of physiotherapeutic treatments for the patient group are adapted physical activity and various forms of body and mind training. Furthermore, physiotherapists with a behavioral medicine approach can work to integrate biological, psychological, and social factors. Aim: The aim of the study was to describe physiotherapists experiences of group exercise for patients with mild to moderate mental illness. Method: Descriptive qualitative design. Based on a purposive sampling and snowball sampling were six physiotherapists recruited in central Sweden. Furthermore, a qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach was applied. Results: The study resulted in five categories: “Important factors for participation”,” Barriers to compliance”, “Perceived effects of movement in a group”, “Several training forms and structures can work”, and “The leader's personal characteristics and professional skills favor participation”. Conclusion: The study contributes to an increased understanding of factors that the physiotherapist considers to be significant for patients' participation, motivation, and adherence to group training. The results also reveal experiences that group training is a good treatment option and that the group dynamic process is beneficial for the patients rehabilitation.

Genetic sex -the apparent fundamental biological cause of the two male and female human varieties- is a 20th century construct. Looking down the microscope, the stained chromosomes are concrete countable entities and lend themselves easily to genetic determinism. As the chromosome composition of a person is generally fixed at the time of conception, when a Y- or X-bearing sperm is united with the X-bearing egg, a person’s genetic sex is taken as permanent and unchanging throughout their life. Drawing upon gender theory as well as science and technology studies this thesis explores how our particular construction of the concept of ‘genetic sex’ relies on four features of biological sex (binary, fixed, spanning nature, and found throughout the body) and in addition proposes one unique feature, inheritance. The empirical research is based on an analysis of popular science books as well as two case studies of how genes relate to sex determination and development. The analysis of the metaphors used in these books and journal articles reveals how now, with genomic efforts to explore gene expression profiles, there is a shift away from seeing genes as having ‘responsibilities’ for determining phenotypes towards seeing them play a role along with other genes in genetic cascades where other factors such as timing can be incorporated. The analysis of genomic features such as imprinting and X-chromosome inactivation also provide evidence that such a change should be recognised. Rather than seeing sex in terms of fixed and static differences and similarities, current research offers new ways of conceptualising similarities and differences as dynamic and responsive to environment. This supports wider understandings of ‘biology’ as relying on the interactions between genetic processes, cellular environment, and tissue environment – in which the social physicality of bodies is important in forming and maintaining a person’s biology and genetic processes. Yet as the historical analysis of the shift between the one sex to two sex model indicates, it remains to be seen whether the social sphere will respond by incorporating this new evidence into the tacit, everyday understandings of sex or seek to maintain the binary and fixed relationship(s) between men and women by governing them as males and females.

The literature presents us with two distinct, and at times opposed, approaches to strategic management: the use of strategic choice and determinism. This research shows that these approaches can actually be considered as two distinct variables, which create a space or framework in which it is possible to identify, according to the available different amounts of strategic choice and determinism, the four different ontological perspectives of determinism, hard incompatibilism, libertarianism and compatibilism. According to the literature, within each ontological perspective of the strategic choice/determinism framework, companies use different levels of strategic choice and determinism to produce organizational outcomes. This research provides empirical evidence of the real life existence of these ontological perspectives, in which companies’ performance of revenues is driven by a different amount of strategic choice or determinism according to the perspectives in which companies operate. This research also shows that other important performance indicators, such as EBITDA, depend only on deterministic variables, while ROA depends neither on strategic choice nor on deterministic variables. These findings suggest that future research could increase our knowledge on the internal environment of companies, as it could do from the hard incompatibilist perspective, which was not possible to study thoroughly within this research. The research conclusions provide several contributions to both academic knowledge and practice.

This thesis will explore whether Augustine of Hippo altered his theological views and what influences might have precipitated the alleged modifications. Augustine’s early "De libero arbitrio" argued for an individual’s ability to respond freely to God while his later anti-Pelagian writings rejected any human ability to believe until God infuses grace creating belief as his gift. Does his theology exhibit continuity or discontinuity? Four commonplace assertions within Augustinian studies are questioned in this thesis: 1.) Augustine changed his theology in AD 396; 2.) while he was writing the letter to Bishop Simplicianus (Simpl.); 3.) with his transition occurring through reading scripture (Rom.7, 9;1 Cor.15); 4.) which he developed through merely modifying prevalent doctrines. No scholarly work has researched Augustine’s entire corpus from AD 386–430 specifically analyzing his theology in the five final doctrines of: 1.) God giving initial faith as a gift, 2.) inherited damnable reatus from Adam, 3.) the gift of perseverance, 4.) unilateral pre-determination of persons’s eternal destinies independently of foreknowledge, and 5.) God’s neither desiring nor providing for the salvation of all persons. Only a comprehensive methodological approach—reading systematically, chronologically, and comprehensively through his entire corpus—can legitimately demonstrate changes. Did a Patristic consensus exist regarding post-Adamic free choice? What was Augustine’s contribution to this theology? To what degree did the combination of Stoicism, Neoplatonism, and Manichaeism contribute to his liberum arbitrium captivatum? Chapters include an introduction followed by chapters on free choice versus determinism in the: 1.) ancient philosophical-religious world, 2.) Christian authors AD 95–215, 3.) Christian authors AD 216–430, 4.) Augustine’s works AD 386–395, 5.) Augustine’s works AD 396–411, 6.) Augustine’s works AD 412–426, 7.) Augustine’s works AD 427–430, 8.) sermons and epistles, 9.) Augustine’s exegesis of scripture, and 10.) conclusion. Conclusions will be established via extensive primary quotations and references with supporting secondary sources.

Les tilapias (espèces Oreochromis) sont le second groupe le plus important de poissons dans l'aquaculture mondiale ainsi qu'une des premières sources de protéines animales pour des millions de personnes dans les pays en cours de développement. En effet, Les tilapias ont la plupart des qualités requises dans le monde aquacole comme un taux de croissance important et une résistance aux maladies. Cependant leurs reproductions précoces et continues provoquent une surpopulation des bassins et un nanisme des individus. Pour surmonter ces difficultés, il s'agit de créer de nouvelles méthodes de contrôle du sexe (génétique et température) pour une meilleure compréhension de la détermination du sexe chez le tilapia. La détermination sexuelle chez les tilapias est complexe. En effet, le sexe est influencé par des facteurs génétiques majeurs (XX/XY), des facteurs génétiques mineur (sur les autosomes : LG3, LG23) et la température. Au cours des dernières années, de nombreuses ressources génomiques ont été progressivement développées (Bac End Sequences, Expressed sequence Tag, physical map, RH map…). Dans ce travail de thèse nous avons cherché à identifier, par des approches in silico, des gènes liés au sexe, en nous intéressant, en particulier, à ceux localisés sur LG3. Nous avons divisé notre travail en deux étapes. La première recouvre des travaux préliminaires de collecte et de comparaison d'informations existantes. Elle s'est concrétisée par la création d'une carte physique comparée entre le génome complet de l'épinoche et des BES du tilapia ainsi que d'une carte RH du tilapia. La deuxième étape porte sur l'analyse du chromosome correspondant au LG3 (Chr3). Nous avons pu grâce aux méthodes, outils et données développés lors de la première étape, reconstituer le Chr3, l'annoter et faire une liste de gènes impliqués dans la cascade du sexe chez le tilapia du Nil. / Tilapias (Oreochromis spp.) are the second most important fish group in aquaculture and a primary source of animal protein for millions of people in developing countries. Indeed, Tilapias have most of the qualities required in aquaculture such as a good growth-rate and resistance to diseases. Nevertheless, their early and constant reproduction leads to tank overpopulation and dwarfism of individuals. To overcome this, new sex controlling methods (genetics and temperature) are being studied to better understand the sex determination in tilapia. Sex determination in tilapia is complex since sex is influenced by major genetic factors (XX/XY), minor genetic factors (on an autosome: LG3, LG23) and temperature factors. Over the past years a great effort has been done to increase the genomic tools in tilapia by obtaining data on Bac End Sequences (BES), Expressed Sequence tags (EST), physical map, RH map.... The objective of our work is to identify, by in silico approaches, genes associated to sex, especially the ones located on the linkage group LG3. We divided our work in two steps. The first work is to collect heterogeneous and available information existing on tilapia using comparative genomic analyses. This step led to the creation of a comparative physical map between the complete genome of stickleback and the BES of tilapia along with a tilapia RH map. The second step is to analyse the chromosome corresponding to the LG3 (Chr3). Using methods, tools and data developed during the first step, we recreated the Chr3, annotated it and listed the genes involved in the sex cascade in Nile tilapia.

In the seventeenth century a new science of motion emerged that later developed into what we call today classical mechanics. The epistemology of early modern mechanics was split between technical experimentation and mathematical formalisation. ‘Mechanicism’, Cartesianism in primis, was a philosophical project to both preserve the theoretical and technical efficacy of this science and integrate it into a new world picture. In this historical context mechanical philosophy therefore played a double role. On the one hand it was part of a revolutionary event opening new frontiers for materialist thought. On the other hand, as a world picture, it originated a new ideological framework for metaphysical dualism. This thesis uses this historical and philosophical background to radically reconsider the political theory of Thomas Hobbes. During the 1640s Hobbes’s scientia civilis progressively incorporated the dualistic epistemology of Descartes’s mechanicism into materialist philosophy by privileging one of the two structural features of modern science: the tendency towards ‘deduction’ rather than experimentation. This philosophical gesture, simultaneously epistemological and ideological, had considerable political consequences. For this reason Hobbes’s political theory will be read as an ideological response to the non-geometrical and non-mechanical functioning of ‘matter’, including ‘human matter’, evidenced by the threatening experimental practices carried on during the first half of the seventeenth century in both the Galilean science of nature and the English Civil War. My wider hypothesis is that this profoundly idealistic agenda still informs our understanding of nature and of the body politic. It reduces the open method of science to the outdated metaphysical picture of it provided by Descartes, and suffocates politics itself by neutralising the emergence of political conflict and experimentation, labelling them as not only inessential but also dangerous to the body politic. On the contrary, philosophical materialism invites us to understand the self-organising tendency of matter as an undeniable risk implicit in the functioning of all systems, the social system included.