Insekter har länge innehaft en undanskymd plats inom litterära djurstudier, och tidigare forskning har i viss utsträckning berört skildrandets svårigheter. Den här uppsatsen vill istället rikta uppmärksamheten mot litterära insektsskildringars mer-än-antropocentriska potential. Uppsatsens primära syfte är att belysa och diskutera hur insekter, samt hur mötet och förhållandet mellan människa och insekt framställs i tre utvalda verk. En betoning ligger på att uppmärksamma form- och innehållsmässiga framställningsstrategier som kan uppfattas som mer-än-antropocentriska.  De tre analyserade verken är Maurice Maeterlincks La vie des abeilles (1901), Leena Krohns Tainaron: postia toisesta kaupungista (1985), samt Bernard Werbers Les Fourmis (1991), och tillvägagångssättet har i viss mån varit inspirerat av ytläsning (surface reading). I analysen används även begrepp och tankegångar som förekommer inom djurstudier och närliggande fält. Analysen visar bland annat vilka strategier som har använts för att undvika grov antropomorfism och överdriven distansering, samt vilka strategier som använts för att undvika att positionera insekter i stereotypa roller i förhållande till människor. Analysen visar också hur verkens mänskliga jaginstanser låter sig påverkas och omformas i mötet med insekter, samt föreslår att läsaren i sitt möte med texterna kan påverkas på ett liknande sätt. Vidare tyder analysen på att skönlitterära insektsskildringar kan vara svåra att placera in i generella modeller för berättelser om djur.

The usage of virtual assistants is starting to appear within a wide range of application areas. This thesis has been conducted in collaboration with Volvo Cars and more specifically the CAD & Mechanical Development department. It examines how a virtual assistant could facilitate daily product design work at Volvo Cars. This is done by creating a deep understanding of how Design Engineers currently use Volvo Cars CAD Methods or VM’s. The Volvo Cars CAD Methods are instructional documents where Design Engineers find guidance when encountering design related problems. This thesis focuses primarily on the mechanical design aspects of Volvo Cars CAD Methods. The final prototype presented in the thesis is a result of interviews, affinity diagram analysis, requirement analysis, survey, and design iterations. This thesis and the final prototype have shown the interaction design possibilities, limitations, use-cases, and future potential of a virtual assistant Volvo Cars.

This thesis conducts a comparative and ecocritical examination of Blackfish and Grizzly Man, two nature documentary films dealing with separate cases of human fatalities caused by wild animals. The aim was to show how nature and non-human animals as well as the relationship between humans/civilization and non-human animals/nature are represented in the films. Additionally, the effects of the representations of non-human animals on a viewer are also examined. For examining representations, the main theoretical frameworks used were: Frans De Waal’s understanding of the concepts of animalcentric and anthropocentric anthropomorphism, and Hillevi Ganetz’s understanding and use of the concept of natursyn (english: view on nature), meaning cultural interpretations of nature, which divides into three views: beautiful, sublime and picturesque. For the additional aim, the concepts of trans-species empathy and false-intimacy were used, the former via Alexa Weik von Mossner’s understanding and use, the latter via Derek Bousé’s. Essentially, the related concepts refer to the human ability to engage emotionally with non-human characters.  What the results show is that both Grizzly Man and Blackfish have ambivalent attitudes toward nature. In both Grizzly Man and Blackfish there are signs of different kinds of anthropomorphism. In terms of natursyn, Grizzly Man consists of a picturesque and a sublime view, articulated verbally and visually, whereas Blackfish consists of a beautiful and a picturesque view, articulated verbally, visually and sonically. The thesis also shows that the representations of orcas as human-like and close-ups of orcas with physical injuries in Blackfish have the potential of creating trans-species empathy. In Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog’s indifferent conception of nature, proclaimed through spoken narration as close-ups of a bear face are shown, discourages the potential effects of such imagery, namely false intimacy.

Abstract The pupose of the study was to increase knowledge about how anthropomorphism can support preschool children´s learning about the developmentstages of the butterfly in a teaching situation with anthropomorphic children´s literature, investigative booktalk and concrete material. To answer the purpose, questions were needed that povided answers to what kind of learning that occurred in relation to the prior knowledge and how the children´s learning was characterized in their retelling. The design of the study was based on a teaching sitauation that included a high-grade anthropomorphic children´s literature that was reading aloud with an investigative booktalk and concret material as didactic tools. The method was observation, and the theoretical basis was a socio-cultural perspective on learning that took place in interaction with the others in the childgroup. The results of the study showed that all groups of children learned the developmentstages of the butterfly as concepts and the concepts of the butterfly in the order of the stages. Anthropomorphism was the focus that branched out into anthropomorphic children`s literature, investigative booktalk and concrete material as didactic tools, all scaffolding were important for the learning. The childrens learning was characterized in their retelling either anthropomorphic or non-anthropomorphic, most of the childrens retelling were non-anthropomorphic. The conclusion therefore showes the role of anthropomorphism in preschool children´s learning as benficial when a non-human biological phenomenon is to be learned. Anthropomorphism serves as a support to explain bilogical processes that is different from human development. / Syftet med studien var att öka kunskapen om hur antropomorfism kan stöttaförskolebarns lärande om fjärilens stadier i en undervisningssituation medantropomorfisk barnlitteratur, undersökande boksamtal och konkret material.För att besvara syftet behövdes frågeställningar som gav svar på vilket lärandesom skett i förhållande till förkunskaperna och hur barnens lärandekaraktäriserades i deras återberättande. Studiens design utgick ifrån enundervisningssituation som innefattade högläsning av en höggradigantropomorfisk barnlitteratur med ett undersökande boksamtal och konkretmaterial som didaktiska verktyg. Metoden var observation och den teoretiskagrunden var ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på lärande genom samspel med deandra i barngruppen. Resultatet av studien visade att alla barngrupper tog tillsig det nya lärandet av fjärilens stadier som begrepp och begreppen larv, puppaoch fjäril i stadiernas ordning. Antropomorfism var huvudfokuset som grenadeut i antropomorfisk barnlitteratur, undersökande boksamtal och konkretmaterial som didaktiska verktyg, vilka alla hade betydelse för lärandet.Barnens lärande karaktäriserades i deras återberättande antingenantropomorfiskt eller icke-antropomorfiskt där det icke-antropomorfiska stodför majoriteten av det återberättande som skedde. Slutsatsen visar därförantropomorfismens roll i förskolebarns lärande som gynnsam när ett icke-mänskligt biologiskt fenomen ska läras in i förskolan. Antropomorfismenfungerar som stöttning för att förklara biologiska processer som inte liknar denmänskliga utvecklingen

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is adopted fast and wide across consumer industries and digital marketing. This new technology has the potential to enhance online customer experience and outcomes of customer experience. However, research relating to the impact of AI is still developing and empirical evidence sparse. Taking a consumercentred approach and by adopting Social Response Theory as theoretical lens, this research addresses an overall research question pertaining to the implications of online customer experience with AI on consumer behaviour. A quantitative research strategy with positivist approach is adopted to gather a large sample (n= 489) of online consumers who have previously interacted with AI-enabled technology. The collected data is analysed statistically utilising Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Empirical findings show strong positive effects of anthropomorphism of AI, para-social interaction with AI, and performance expectancy of AI on all three customer experience dimensions of informativeness, entertainment and social presence. Additionally, there is strong statistical support for the positive effect of informativeness and social presence on continued purchase intentions (β= .379 and β= .315), while the effects of entertainment are less strong. The mediating effects of customer experience have been assessed, highlighting social presence as most important mediator. This research contributes to knowledge by extending previous customer experience theory and quantifying the influence of online customer experience with AI on purchase intentions and eWOM. The theoretical insights also translate into direct implications for marketing practice relating to the design, integration, and implementation of more consumer- and outcome-oriented AI applications. / Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences studentship

Uppsatsens syfte är att upplysa kring hur filmer på YouTube fungerar retoriskt. Fokuset ligger ihur miljödiskursen representeras. Med hjälp av en semiologisk och retorisk analys undersöksfilmen The Turning Point (2020) av den brittiske animatören Steve Cutts. Detta sker med hjälpav semiologiska teorier samt sociopsykologiska teorier kopplade till visuell retorik. Resultatetav analysen blev att Cutts använder sig av kausala förhållanden mellan scener för att bygga ettargument. Filmen utnyttjar sedan tittarens tendens att identifiera sig med karaktärer för attövertyga. Resultatet blir relevant då det visar hur ett implicit, visuellt argument byggs upp i envideo på YouTube, en växande plattform för information och diskussion kring miljöfrågor. Minuppsats undersöker dock inte tittarens respons på materialet och ej heller YouTubeanvändaresinteraktion med övertalande visuella texter. Detta fordrar mer forskning påområdet där både responsstudier och diskursanalyser kan bli viktiga för att förstå hur åsikterformas på plattformen. / The purpose of this essay is to inform about how videos on YouTube work rhetorically. The focus is on how the environmental discourse is represented. Using a semiological andrhetorical analysis, the film The Turning Point (2020) by the British animator Steve Cutts isexamined. This is done with semiological and socio-psychological theories linked to visualrhetoric. The results of the analysis showed that Cutts uses causal relationships betweenscenes to build an argument. The film then takes advantage of the viewer's tendency toidentify with characters to persuade. The result is relevant as it shows how an implicit, visualargument is built up in a video on YouTube, a growing platform for information anddiscussions on environmental issues. However, my essay does not examine the viewer'sresponse to the material, nor the interaction of YouTube users with persuasive visual texts.This requires more research in the area where both response studies and discourse analysis’scan be important for understanding how opinions are formed on the platform.

This research addresses the growing applications and impacts of AI-generated digital human avatars from software suites like HeyGen. By exploring the role of trust in mediating user interaction with such technology, this study establishes a basic hierarchical model which supports some foundational theories of human-computer interaction, while also calling into question some more recent theories and models previously used to evaluate avatar technology. By modeling user behavior and user preference through the lens of trust, this study is able to demonstrate how this emerging technology is similar to its predecessors and their relevant theories, while also establishing this technology as something distinctly new and largely untested. This research serves as an exploratory study, using notions of social presence, anthropomorphic design, social trust, technological trust, and human source-bias to separate this generation of AI Avatar technology from its predecessors, and determine what theories and models govern the use of this new technology. The findings from this study and their impacts on use-cases are then applied, speculating on prosocial as well as potentially unethical uses of such technology. Finally, this study problematizes the loss of “primary trust” that this technology may afford, highlighting the importance not only of continued research, but also rapid oversight in the deployment of this emerging technology.

Cette thèse présente la conception et la commande d’une main robotique légère et peu onéreuse pour un robot compagnon humanoïde. La main est conçue pour exprimer des émotions à travers des gestes et pour saisir de petits objets légers. Sa géométrie est définie à l’aide de données anthropométriques. Sa cinématique est simplifiée par rapport à la main humaine pour réduire le nombre d’actionneurs tout en respectant ses exigences fonctionnelles. La main préserve son anthropomorphisme grâce aux nombres et au placement de la base des doigts et à une bonne opposabilité du pouce. La mécatronique de la main repose sur un compromis entre des phalanges couplés, qui permettent de bien connaître la posture des doigts pendant les gestes, et des phalanges capable de s’adapter à la forme des objets pendant la saisie, réunis en une conception hybride unique. Ce compromis est rendu possible grâce à deux systèmes d’actionnement distincts placés en parallèle. Leur coexistence est garantie par une transmission compliante basée sur des barres en élastomère. La solution proposée réduit significativement le poids et la taille de la main en utilisant sept actionneurs de faible puissance pour les gestes et un seul moteur puissant pour la saisie. Le système est conçue pour être embarqué sur Romeo, un robot humanoïde de1.4 [m] produit par Aldebaran. Les systèmes d’actionnements sont dimensionnés pour ouvrir et fermer les doigts en moins de 1 [s] et pour saisir une canette pleine de soda. La main est réalisée et contrôlée pour garantir une interaction sûre avec l’homme mais aussi pour protéger l’intégrité de la mécanique. Un prototype (ALPHA) est réalisé pour valider la conception et ses capacités fonctionnelles. / This thesis presents the design and control of a low-cost and lightweight robotic hand for a social humanoid robot. The hand is designed to perform expressive hand gestures and to grasp small and light objects. Its geometry follows anthropometric data. Its kinematics simplifies the human hand structure to reduce the number of actuators while ensuring functional requirements. The hand preserves anthropomorphism by properly placing five fingers on the palm and by ensuring an equilibrated thumb opposability. Its mechanical system results from the compromise between fully-coupled phalanges and self-adaptable fingers in a unique hybrid design. This answers the need for known finger postures while gesturing and for finger adaptation to different object shapes while grasping. The design is based on two distinct actuation systems embodied in parallel within the palm and the fingers. Their coexistence is ensured by a compliant transmission based on elastomer bars. The proposed solution significantly reduces the weightand the size of the hand by using seven low-power actuators for gesturing and a single high-power motor for grasping. The overall system is conceived to be embedded on Romeo, a humanoid robot 1.4 [m] tall produced by Aldebaran. Actuation systems are dimensioned to open and close the fingers in less than1 [s] and to grasp a full soda can. The hand is realized and controlled to ensure safe human-robot interaction and to preserve mechanical integrity. A prototype(ALPHA) is realized to validate the design feasibility and its functional capabilities.

M.A. University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2012. / Humanity’s relationship with nature has, in recent years, undoubtedly been one of contention and turmoil, an issue whose drama is gaining popularity in popular culture and, especially, film. In this dissertation I examine how these challenging human-nature relationships play out in Terrence Malick’s The New World, Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, Sean Penn’s Into the Wild, and the Jon Krakauer book, of the same title, upon which Penn’s film is based. As one’s views on nature (like all else) are mediated through language, using ecocritical principles slanted towards filmic, as opposed to written, texts, I provide a close examination of the ways in which these artists portray the relationship between language and nature, and the impact this has on our cultural and individual identities. I will also show how these primary texts make use of centuries-old Romantic aesthetics in order to humanise nature for moral ends. The primary texts agree that a large part of the problem in the poor relationship between humanity and nature is due to inadequate metaphors with which humanity views the earth. Thus, each artist promotes a certain kind of anthropomorphic understanding of nature which he believes is pivotal in encouraging better interconnections between humanity and nature. As a result, I provide a critique of the kinds of metaphors used by each respective artist, where some metaphors of nature may support or contradict a certain artist’s aims in his portrayal of human-nature relationships.

Les interactions entre marques et consommateurs font l’objet de nombreuses recherches, notamment depuis l’avènement des médias sociaux. Cette recherche porte sur un mode d’interaction peu étudié, la conversation de marque, définie comme une suite de messages échangés en ligne et en public entre plusieurs individus dont un au moins représente une marque. Pour étudier ce phénomène, nous réalisons deux études qualitatives et trois études quantitatives. En faisant appel à la théorie du face-work, nous montrons que la marque parait plus humaine quand elle respecte les règles de la communication interpersonnelle. Cependant, ces règles sont altérées quand la conversation porte sur les produits et quand les consommateurs sont attachés à la marque. Cette recherche contribue à la littérature sur les interactions marques-consommateurs et à la littérature sur l’anthropomorphisme en montrant l’impact des pratiques conversationnelles des marques sur l’attitude des consommateurs. / Brand-consumers interaction is an emerging topic in marketing research especially since the advent of social media. This research focuses on a little-studied type of interaction, brand conversation. Brand conversation is defined as a series of messages exchanged online and in public between several individuals, at least one of them being a brand representative. To study this phenomenon, we carry out two qualitative studies and three quantitative studies. Using face-work theory, we show that brands seem to be more human by following interpersonal communication rules. However, these rules are slightly altered in a marketing context, especially when the conversation is about products and when consumers are attached to the brand. This research contributes to the literature on brand-consumer interaction and to the literature on brand anthropomorphism by showing the impact of brand conversational practices on consumer attitudes.