Awareness of biological invasions is becoming widespread and several mathematical tools have been used to study this problem. Interacting particle systems, specifically the contact process, have been used to study systems with invasion/infection type dynamics. The Propp-Wilson algorithm is a method for exact sampling from the stationary distribution of an ergodic monotone Markov chain using a method called coupling from the past. The contact process is monotone so we can sample exactly from the stationary distribution of a modified finite grid version using the Propp-Wilson algorithm. In order to study an invasion, we would like to include at least 2 species; however, monotonicity is not well defined for contact processes with more than 2 particle types. Here we develop a general theory of monotonicity for interaction map particle systems, which are interacting particle systems with contact process type dynamics. This allows us to create monotone models with any number of particles and to use the Propp-Wilson algorithm for not only sampling from the stationary distribution, but analyzing the path of invasion leading to equilibrium. Virtual particle invasion models that fall into this new theoretical framework, which we develop here, present a wide range of biological dynamics. Computer simulation of the stochastic system and mean field analysis are two powerful tools that we use for analyzing these types of models. Statistics gathered along the path to invasion help us understand the spatial dynamics of this ecological process and what the stationary behavior looks like. This allows us to understand when the invasion is successful or if coexistence occurs and how these depend on the transition rates and interactions within the process.

In recent years it has become way more important for organizations to use their brand to market themselves as an employer. In a market where organizations are competing for labor it has been known that the brand can make it possible for organizations to differentiate themselves as unique and attractive place of work. The concept is called Employer Branding and if an organization wants to suceed they have to have a clear and defined structure. The concept is well known among private organizations and not as common with the public sector. The purpose of this study was to examine how a small municipality in northern Sweden is working to be an attractive employer. The following questions were aimed to be answered: How do the municipality get their staff to work towards common goals and values? How is the municipality working to create a good management that promotes a friendly workforce? How is the municipality working to enhance their image? Semi-structured interviews were conducted to get the purpose of the study answered. Six employees were interviewed. The results showed what the municipality needs to focus on if they want to become an attractive employer. Evidence in the results showed that weak goals and values exists, there is a need for a clearer management, and that competence is neglected because of the municipality economy. The results are discussed and analyzed in relation to previous research and finally proposals is conducted for the studied municipality.

To deploy a large group of autonomous robots in dynamic multi-tasking environments, a suitable multi-robot task-allocation (MRTA) solution is required. This must be scalable to variable number of robots and tasks. Recent studies show that biology-inspired self-organized approaches can effectively handle task-allocation in large multi-robot systems. However most existing MRTA approaches have overlooked the role of different communication and sensing strategies found in selfregulated biological societies. This dissertation proposes to solve the MRTA problem using a set of previously published generic rules for division of labour derived from the observation of ant,human and robotic social systems. The concrete form of these rules, the attractive field model (AFM), provides sufficient abstraction to local communication and sensing which is uncommon in existing MRTA solutions. This dissertation validates the effectiveness of AFM to address MRTA using two bio-inspired communication and sensing strategies: "global sensing - no communication" and "local sensing - local communication". The former is realized using a centralized communication system and the latter is emulated under a peer-topeer local communication scheme. They are applied in a manufacturing shop-floor scenario using 16 e-puck robots. A robotic interpretation of AFM is presented that maps the generic parameters of AFM to the properties of a manufacturing shopfloor. A flexible multi-robot control architecture, hybrid event-driven architecture on D-Bus, has been outlined which uses the state-of-the-art D-Bus interprocess communication to integrate heterogeneous software components. Based-on the organization of task-allocation, communication and interaction among robots, a novel taxonomy of MRTA solutions has been proposed to remove the ambiguities found in existing MRTA solutions. Besides, a set of domainindependent metrics, e.g., plasticity, task-specialization and energy usage, has been formalized to compare the performances of the above two strategies. The presented comparisons extend our general understanding of the role of information exchange strategies to achieve the distributed task-allocations among various social groups.

Bakgrund: När pandemin bröt ut för ungefär två år sedan drabbades många sektorer ute på arbetsmarknaden hårt. En av de sektorer som drabbades hårdast var vården. Vården har stått inför flertalet utmaningar när antalet patienter och bristen på sjuksköterskor har ökat. Detta har ställt höga krav på samtliga arbetsgivare inom vården att kunna rekrytera ny personal samt viktigast av allt behålla befintlig personal. För att kunna locka ny personal samt behålla befintlig personal krävs det att arbetsgivare finner centrala delar i vad arbetstagare anser vara ett attraktivt arbete. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att beskriva och analysera sjuksköterskornas uppfattning om vad som gör deras jobb attraktivt inom den kommunala sektorn. Genom att använda “modellen för attraktivt arbete” (Åteg, et al., 2004) är syftet att beskriva och analysera kännetecken som anses vara ett attraktivt arbete för sjuksköterskor inom kommunal sektor. Studien görs inom den kommunala sektorns hemsjukvård Metod: Studien bygger på en kvalitativ metod. Empiriska data har samlats in som utgår från ett medarbetarperspektiv. Det gjordes totalt åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med sjuksköterskor inom hemvården i en mindre kommun i Västsverige. Resultat och slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att det är flera kännetecken som sjuksköterskorna i föreliggande studie ansåg bidra till attraktivt arbete. Relation med kollegorna, stimulans och variation av arbetsuppgifter är det kännetecken som är mest betydelsefulla när det kommer till attraktivt arbete. Lön är också något som prioriteras däremot väger relationen med kollegor högre. Detta utesluter inte att de andra dimensionerna som studien tar upp är oviktiga men de fyra ovan värderas högst. Relationen med kollegor är viktigt i den mån att sjuksköterskorna har någon att diskutera med och få ny kunskap ifrån. Stimulansen inom arbetet var viktigt och för att uppnå det kunde interna utbildningar bidra till en ökad stimulans. Variation av arbetsuppgifter var också en av de viktigaste dimensionerna och bidrar starkt till det attraktiva arbetet, detta var också något som de administrativa arbetsuppgifterna kunde bidra med genom att minska administrativa arbetet. / Background: When the pandemic broke out about two years ago, many sectors of the labor market were hit hard. One of the sectors hardest hit was healthcare. Healthcare has faced several challenges as the number of patients and the shortage of nurses has increased. This has placed high demands on all employers in healthcare to be able to recruit new staff and most importantly to retain existing staff. In order to be able to attract new staff and retain existing staff, it is required that employers find key elements in what employees consider to be attractive work. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the perception of nurses regarding their believes on what makes their profession attractive within the municipal (government) sector. By using the “model for attractive work” (Åteg, et al., 2004), the purpose is to describe and analyze characteristics that are considered attractive work for nurses in the municipal sector. The study is conducted in the municipal sector's home health care. Method: The study is based on a qualitative method with a deductive research approach. Empirical data is collected that are based on an employee perspective to give the study an increased credibility. There were a total of eight semi-structured interviews with nurses within the homecare sector in a smaller municipal in the western region of Sweden. Conclusion: The results of the study show that there are several characteristics that the nurses in the present study considered to contribute to attractive work. Relationships with colleagues, stimulation and variety of tasks are the characteristics that are most important when it comes to attractive work. Salary is also something that is prioritized, however, the relationship with colleagues weighs higher. This does not exclude that the other dimensions that the study addresses are unimportant, but the four above are highly valued. The relationship with colleagues is important insofar as the nurses have someone to discuss with and gain new knowledge from. The stimulus within the work was important and to achieve this, internal training could contribute to an increased stimulus. Variety of tasks was also one of the most important dimensions and contributes strongly to the attractive work, this was also something that the administrative tasks could contribute by reducing the administrative work.

In order to grow and survive, a firm must create value with consumers in ways that both fit in with consumer demands and stand out from competitors. Focusing on and understanding consumer and firm assessments of value and creation of value has become a central scope in the contemporary strategic management and marketing literature for understanding and explaining firm survival and success. Consequently, the overall aim of this thesis is to provide a conceptually and empirically grounded understanding of consumers’ and managers’ value assessments and behavior in value creation. This thesis draws on a consumer experience perspective and theories on social construction, organizational identity, self-congruence, and the theory of attractive quality, and combines multiple qualitative and quantitative studies. The findings in this thesis shed light on the interplay between consumers, firms, and contextual structures in value creation. Contextual structural, cultural, and political forces are shown to affect and be affected by the shared and individual cognitions of value creation that firms and consumers use in their assessment and creation value. The results of the study enhance the understanding of how firms can adopt various strategic schemas or organizing logics to optimize different types of use value creation when choosing between opposing and contradictive demands in their value creation. Furthermore, the thesis provides a deeper understanding of the hierarchical nature of consumer judgments of value that can be used to enhance the effectiveness of firm prioritizations and as a foundation for future value-creating strategies.

Infants prefer familiar adults (e.g. parents) to unfamiliar adults (e.g. strangers), but they also vary in which strangers they prefer. By 6-months, infants look longer at attractive than unattractive faces (e.g., Langlois et al., 1987); and by 12-months, infants show approach behaviors toward attractive strangers and withdrawal behaviors toward unattractive strangers (Langlois, Roggman, & Rieser-Danner, 1990). These preferences may be due to a mechanism referred to as cognitive averaging (e.g., Rubenstein, Kalakanis, & Langlois, 1999). Infants cognitively average face exemplars to form a face prototype. Infants likely perceive attractive faces as familiar because these faces are similar to the face prototype; and they likely perceive unattractive faces as especially novel because these face are dissimilar from the face prototype. Even young infants may be more motivated to approach attractive than unattractive faces but do not fully express this motivation due to limitations in locomotion and communication. I applied EEG asymmetry to study neural correlates of approach and withdrawal motivation in response to attractive and unattractive faces with 6- and 10-month-olds. More specifically, I measured EEG alpha power at mid-frontal regions while 39 infants viewed a series of attractive and unattractive faces. Left EEG asymmetry relates to approach motivation whereas right EEG asymmetry relates to withdrawal motivation. I predicted infants would show greater left EEG asymmetry (i.e., approach motivation) when viewing attractive faces than when viewing unattractive faces, and that 6-montholds would show even greater left asymmetry than 10-month-olds due to developmental differences in stranger wariness. Results supported the main hypothesis but not hypotheses regarding age. Infant EEG asymmetry was greater in response to attractive faces than unattractive faces suggesting that infants are more motivated to approach attractive people than unattractive people as early as 6-months. These results link visual preferences evident at 6-months to overt behaviors evident by 12-months providing additional information regarding rudiments of attractiveness stereotypes. Furthermore, this investigation supports the use of EEG asymmetry methodology to measure infant approach/withdrawal motivation, providing infant researchers one more tool to better understand how infants evaluate novel individuals in their social environment as they decide whom to approach and whom to avoid. / text

Purpose – The purpose of this thesis is to explore the capability of Swedish regional public transport authorities (RPTAs) to organize public transport so that it stimulates the intended value creation process needed to increase users’ positive experience. Design/methodology/approach – This thesis utilizes an interpretative research approach. Two empirical studies, resulting in two papers have been used in this thesis. Study I consists of a quantitative Kano questionnaire with 930 respondents. Study II comprises a qualitative study with 11 semi-structured interviews. Both studies have been equally necessary to the results of this thesis. Findings – Public transport is one of the few public services with a mandate to attract users, and therefore, this thesis suggests that Swedish public transport organizations must understand how various services in multiple dimensions affect users’ preferences for public transport. With this understanding, public transport organizations can effectively and efficiently allocate resources and increase the appeal of future public transport. Such a focus demands a deep organizational knowledge and understanding of customer needs and detailed awareness of how the achievement of various requirements affects customers. This thesis shows that organizational structures are based on political comprises rather then the needs to solve coordination challenges and facilitate customers’ value creation. It is further argued that the organizational structures and personal or impersonal information processing mechanisms in Swedish public transport influence the search for information and subsequent organizational learning influencing the RPTAs’ capabilities to include and understand public transport users’ needs. This thesis offers insight into how public organizations, such as Swedish public transport authorities, can make decisions in structural design to learn from customer perceptions and adapt organizational policy accordingly.  In addition, I argue that RPTAs must employ both exploitative and exploratory learning to improve their capabilities and increase their efficiency and effectiveness. This thesis also provides a model to describe these relationships. Originality/value – Unlike previous studies, this thesis shows how organizational structures are decided based on political compromises rather than the need for coordination. This thesis offers insight into how public organizations, such as Swedish public transport authorities, can make decisions in structural design to learn from customer perceptions and adapt organizational policy accordingly. / Public transport is one of the few public services with a mandate to attract users, and therefore, this thesis suggests that Swedish public transport organizations must understand how various services in multiple dimensions affect users’ preferences for public transport. With this understanding, public transport organizations can effectively and efficiently allocate resources and increase the appeal of future public transport. Such an approach requires not only a deep organizational knowledge of customer needs, but also a detailed knowledge of how the achievement of the various demands affects users and their value creation. This thesis further shows that organizational structures are based on political comprises rather then the needs to solve coordination challenges and facilitate customers’ value creation. It is here argued that the organizational structures and personal or impersonal information processing mechanisms in Swedish public transport influence the search for information and subsequent organizational learning influencing the RPTAs’ capabilities to include and understand public transport users’ needs. This thesis offers insight into how public organizations, such as Swedish public transport authorities, can make decisions in structural design to learn from customer perceptions and adapt organizational policy accordingly.

In recent years, many sexually attractive PR females can be seen at every exhibition. They are top models, stars, adult video actresses, poster girls, show girls, etc. A lot of literatures have mentioned that females are frequently objectified and commercialized in order to satisfy the desire of males in a patriarchal and capitalistic society. Due to the changing trends, saleswomen reveal different appearances in various frameworks of exhibition. Sexually attractive females have become the key persons in the exhibition; their mission is not only to soften the atmosphere permeated by cold hard products, but also to attract visitors, engage in customer relations, and achieve the expected turnover. The study subjects were visitors at the 2007 Kaohsiung Computer Multimedia and Audio Exhibition. By answering the questionnaires their ¡§visiting purpose¡¨ and ¡§purchase intention¡¨ as well as the ¡§demographic statistic variables¡¨ were all investigated. All data were analyzed via: descriptive statistics, reliability factors, correlation and single-factor variation (one way ANOVA). The correlation and study assumptions can therefore be verified. The research results showed that there is a correlation among ¡§visiting purpose¡¨, ¡§purchase intention¡¨ and ¡§demographic statistic variables.¡¨ It proved that the sexually attractive females did not necessarily attract consumers with pure intentions to purchase their desired products, but they did attract consumers who love to ogle scantily clad females or who just want to spend their free time at the exhibition. The demographic statistic variables presented that those sexually attractive females did attract many students under the age of 25, and they were willing to change their purchase intention. Companies can refer to this research in planning their sales strategies and determine special promotions where sexually attractive PR females can be used to help hawk their products, so that the best benefits can be achieved. Keywords: exhibition, feminism, sexually attractive females, visiting purpose, purchase intention

With the changes of time and the advancement of technology, the Internet increasingly popular in recent years, to the end of September 2007 only China's capital has reached 10 million online population, Internet penetration rate has increased to 44%, but also because Internet penetration, the development of different areas and the diversification of the network activities, and in the areas of human resources management, recruitment and selection activities have begun to use to the Internet, as a message transmission and the importance of screening candidates Media, Peters (2001) think that employers and candidates, the Internet has already caused the employment process (hiring process) of the revolution, Anderson (2003) also pointed out that over the past 10 years, many multinational companies have been shifting the focus of recruitment Mainly to the Internet to recruit. Therefore, this study of Internet recruitment organizations in the contents of the brand and recruiting candidates and influence the organization attractive to the Internet to recruit candidates for the attitude of intermediary variables. This research explores the relationships among organizational brand, recruiting contents, applicant attitudes to e-recruiting and organization attractive. Research has 161 effective samples. This research use kinds of statistical analysis includes description analysis, factor analysis, effective analysis, regression analysis, AVOVA and multiple mediating analysis. The main findings are: 1. The organizational brand has positive influence with organizational attractive in e-recruiting. 2. The recruiting contents has positive influence with organizational attractive in e-recruiting. 3. The organizational brand has positive influence with applicant attitudes in e-recruiting. 4. The recruiting contents has positive influence with applicant attitudes in e-recruiting. 5. The applicant attitudes has positive influence with organizational attractive in e-recruiting. 6. The organizational brand has not affect organizational attractive via mediating variable of applicant attitude in e-recruiting. 7. The recruiting contents has not affect organizational attractive via mediating variable of applicant attitude in e-recruiting. Key Words: Organizational brand, Recruiting contents, Applicant attitude, Organizational attractive

Swedish elderly care stands before vast employee related challenges in a future with an aging population that will require welfare. By studying what makes working in elder care attractive and what can be done to strengthen its’ attractiveness, tools can be made to attract employees to the occupation and thereby secure the future needs. This qualitative study has investigated employees' experiences of attractive work in a municipal home care service. Through two focus groups based on a model for attractive work, six employees' experiences of what makes their work attractive in a municipal home care organization have been identified. The results show these are social contact and relationships with colleagues, helping others, having varied tasks and care recipients, present and understanding leadership, and problem-solving in work. Improvement points such as increased salaries, more flexible schedules, raising the status of the home care profession, improving employees' ability to show appreciation for each other, and expanding employees' autonomy in their work have also been identified as ways to enhance the attractiveness of the work according to respondents. The study was inspired by hermeneutic-oriented empirical phenomenology, where respondents' experiences of the phenomenon of attractive work are central, but pre-understanding is used to gain a deeper understanding of these experiences and put them in a broader context. Using the model for attractive work, respondents' experiences have been compared to the model and previous research in the field, where similarities and differences have been identified and discussed. / Svensk äldreomsorg står inför stora personalrelaterade utmaningar i en framtid med en åldrande befolkning som kommer behöva välfärd. Genom att undersöka vad som gör hemtjänstarbetet attraktivt och vad som kan göra arbetet attraktivare kan verktyg skapas för att locka fler medarbetare till hemtjänsten och därigenom säkra framtidens behov. Denna kvalitativa studie har undersökt medarbetares upplevelser av attraktivt arbete i en kommunal hemtjänstverksamhet. Genom två fokusgrupper som kommer ifrån en modell för attraktivt arbete har vad sex medarbetarna upplever som attraktivt med sitt arbete hos en kommunal hemtjänstorganisation identifierats. Resultatet visar att dessa är den sociala kontakten och relationen till kollegorna, att hjälpa andra, ha varierande arbetsuppgifter och brukare, veta vad som ska göras, ett närvarande och förstående ledarskap samt att få lösa problem i arbetet. Förbättringsområden som höjda löner, luftigare scheman, att höja hemtjänstyrkets status, att medarbetarna blir bättre på att visa varandra uppskattning samt en utökad handlingsfrihet i arbetet för medarbetarna har också identifierats som respondenterna menade kan stärka arbetets attraktivitet. Studien har inspirerats av en hermeneutisk orienterad empirisk fenomenologi där respondenternas upplevelser av fenomenet attraktivt arbete står i centrum men förförståelse används för att få en djupare förståelse för dessa upplevelser och sätta dem i en större kontext. Med hjälp av modellen för attraktivt arbete har respondenternas upplevelser jämförts med nämnda modell samt tidigare forskning inom fältet för att identifiera och diskutera likheter och skillnader.