<p>In today’s interconnected world, public health crises like COVID-19 have a widespread impact, transcending national borders, causing economic upheaval, the loss of trillions of dollars from the gross domestic product (GDP), and significant disruptions to health systems, and forcing millions of individuals into poverty. While countries may differ in their responses to these crises, their shared objective is to mitigate the damage and ultimately bring an end to the outbreak. Public health experts play a crucial role in these efforts, utilizing rhetorical strategies to effectively communicate with the public about the pandemic. Notably, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci in the United States and Dr. Wenhong Zhang in China emerged as revered figures, leading public health experts, and adept communicators in addressing the risks posed by the pandemic in their respective countries. This dissertation investigates the rhetorical practices of Dr. Zhang and Dr. Fauci in their communications about the pandemic to their respective publics. Employing a case study approach, contextualized comparative rhetoric as an inquiry method, and computer-assisted qualitative rhetorical analysis, this dissertation identifies the similarities and differences in the rhetorical strategies adopted by the two doctors. The findings reveal that both doctors utilize similar rhetorical tools, including ethos, kairos, narratives, and metaphors, to effectively communicate about the pandemic to the public. However, they also exhibit differences influenced by contextual factors such as political, social, and cultural contexts. These findings contribute to our understanding of the role of rhetoric in public health experts’ communications about the pandemic in different countries during a global public health crisis.</p>

Despite the influential impact of knowledge transfer insuccess of industrial domains, organizations still struggle tomanage and maintain their experts’ knowledge andexpertise. In this work, I target remote support engineers,and propose a model that supports them in capturing,visualizing, validating and sharing their knowledge in away that is easily replicable in the future as well providingthe means to access the right expert with the requiredexpertise in case of shortage on documented knowledge.Based on field studies conducted, I identified remotesupport engineers’ needs for exchanging their knowledgeand experiences gained during troubleshooting tasks. Thedesign of the model was achieved by combining thetheories of knowledge acquisition and applying HCIvisualization tools. Finally, I conducted a participatoryevaluation with experts from industrial sites to evaluate themodel. The results of the evaluation indicate positivefeedback towards the model presented and potential forimproving the efficiency of troubleshooting procedures. / Trots den inflytelserika effekterna av kunskapsöverföring i framgången för industriella domäner, organisationerfortfarande kämpar för att hantera och underhålla deras experter kunskap och expertis. I detta arbete, jag riktafjärrsupport ingenjörer, och föreslå en modell som stöder dem i fånga, visualisera, validering och dela sin kunskap påett sätt som är lätt replikerbar i framtiden ger möjlighet att få tillgång till rätt expert med erforderlig expertis i frågaom brist på dokumenterad kunskap. Baserat på fältstudier som genomförts, identifierade jag fjärrsupport ingenjörerbehov av utbyte av sina kunskaper och erfarenheter under felsökning uppgifter. Utformningen av modellen uppnåddesgenom att kombinera teorier om kunskapsinhämtning och tillämpa människa-datorinteraktion visualiseringsverktyg.Slutligen genomförde jag en utvärdering deltagande med experter från industriområden att utvärdera modellen.Resultaten av utvärderingen visar positiv feedback till modellen presenteras och potential för att förbättraeffektiviteten i felsökning.

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Despite the influential impact of knowledge transfer in success of industrial domains, organizations still struggle to manage and maintain their experts’ knowledge and expertise. In this work, I target remote support engineers, and propose a model that supports them in capturing, visualizing, validating and sharing their knowledge in a way that is easily replicable in the future as well providing the means to access the right expert with the required expertise in case of shortage on documented knowledge. Based on field studies conducted, I identified remote support engineers’ needs for exchanging their knowledge and experiences gained during troubleshooting tasks. The design of the model was achieved by combining the theories of knowledge acquisition and applying HCI visualization tools. Finally, I conducted a participatory evaluation with experts from industrial sites to evaluate the model. The results of the evaluation indicate positive feedback towards the model presented and potential for improving the efficiency of troubleshooting procedures.

In supervised learning, it is usually assumed that true labels are readily available from a single annotator or source. However, recent advances in corroborative technology have given rise to situations where the true label of the target is unknown. In such problems, multiple sources or annotators are often available that provide noisy labels of the targets. In these multi-annotator problems, building a classifier in the traditional single-annotator manner, without regard for the annotator properties may not be effective in general. In recent years, how to make the best use of the labeling information provided by multiple annotators to approximate the hidden true concept has drawn the attention of researchers in machine learning and data mining. In our previous work, a probabilistic method (i.e., MAP-ML algorithm) of iteratively evaluating the different annotators and giving an estimate of the hidden true labels is developed. However, the method assumes the error rate of each annotator is consistent across all the input data. This is an impractical assumption in many cases since annotator knowledge can fluctuate considerably depending on the groups of input instances. In this dissertation, one of our proposed methods, GMM-MAPML algorithm, follows MAP-ML but relaxes the data-independent assumption, i.e., we assume an annotator may not be consistently accurate across the entire feature space. GMM-MAPML uses a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC) to find the fittest model to approximate the distribution of the instances. Then the maximum a posterior (MAP) estimation of the hidden true labels and the maximum-likelihood (ML) estimation of quality of multiple annotators at each Gaussian component are provided alternately. Recent studies show that it is not the case that employing more annotators regardless of their expertise will result in improved highest aggregating performance. In this dissertation, we also propose a novel algorithm to integrate multiple annotators by Aggregating Experts and Filtering Novices, which we call AEFN. AEFN iteratively evaluates annotators, filters the low-quality annotators, and re-estimates the labels based only on information obtained from the good annotators. The noisy annotations we integrate are from any combination of human and previously existing machine-based classifiers, and thus AEFN can be applied to many real-world problems. Emotional speech classification, CASP9 protein disorder prediction, and biomedical text annotation experiments show a significant performance improvement of the proposed methods (i.e., GMM-MAPML and AEFN) as compared to the majority voting baseline and the previous data-independent MAP-ML method. Recent experiments include predicting novel drug indications (i.e., drug repositioning) for both approved drugs and new molecules by integrating multiple chemical, biological or phenotypic data sources. / Computer and Information Science

Following Snyderman and Rothman (1987, 1988), we surveyed expert opinions on the current state of intelligence research. This report examines expert opinions on causes of international differences in student assessment and psychometric IQ test results. Experts were surveyed about the importance of culture, genes, education (quantity and quality), wealth, health, geography, climate, politics, modernization, sampling error, test knowledge, discrimination, test bias, and migration. The importance of these factors was evaluated for diverse countries, regions, and groups including Finland, East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Europe, the Arabian-Muslim world, Latin America, Israel, Jews in the West, Roma (gypsies), and Muslim immigrants. Education was rated by N = 71 experts as the most important cause of international ability differences. Genes were rated as the second most relevant factor but also had the highest variability in ratings. Culture, health, wealth, modernization, and politics were the next most important factors, whereas other factors such as geography, climate, test bias, and sampling error were less important. The paper concludes with a discussion of limitations of the survey (e.g., response rates and validity of expert opinions).

La présente recherche vise à décrire les pratiques d’enseignement de la littératie au premier cycle du primaire en contexte montréalais d’enseignants considérés experts. Plus précisément, les trois objectifs de recherche consistent à décrire les pratiques d’enseignement de la langue écrite au premier cycle du primaire en contexte montréalais privilégiées par certains enseignants considérés experts (N=6) (objectif 1); à décrire les différentes formes de différenciation pédagogique privilégiées pour l’enseignement de la lecture et de l’écriture en contexte montréalais de certains enseignants considérés experts afin de répondre aux besoins variés de tous leurs élèves (objectif 2) et à étudier les liens possibles entre les pratiques d’enseignement de la langue écrite d’enseignants considérés experts et la progression de leurs élèves (N=100) du premier cycle du primaire en contexte montréalais, au regard de leur connaissance des correspondances phonographiques et de la norme orthographique (objectif 3). Afin de répondre aux objectifs, deux entretiens ont été menés auprès des enseignantes, de même que deux observations en classe, une à l’automne et une au printemps. Pour leur part, les élèves ont été soumis à deux tâches d’écriture à deux reprises durant l’année (une tâche de production de mots et une tâche de production de texte) permettant de mesurer leur progression en cours d’année relativement à leurs connaissances des correspondances phonographiques et de la norme orthographique. Nos résultats nous ont permis de recueillir des pratiques très diversifiées et conduites avec une fréquence fort différente d’une enseignante à l’autre. La densité des contenus abordés en classe diffère également beaucoup entre les enseignantes. En lien avec le modèle du multi-agenda de Bucheton et Soulé (2009), les cinq composantes constituant la matrice de l’activité de l’enseignant se retrouvent dans toutes les classes, mais ces préoccupations n’occupent pas toutes la même place dans les pratiques des enseignantes de la recherche. Nos résultats indiquent aussi que toutes les enseignantes différencient leur enseignement, mais de façon variable. Il semble que ce soit la différenciation des processus, des contenus et des structures qui soit la plus aisée à mettre en place en classe. En lien avec notre adaptation du modèle de différenciation pédagogique de Caron (2008), il semble que ce soit la diversification et l’offre de choix qui sont mobilisées le plus fréquemment. Les mesures d’adaptation sont rarement mises en avant dans les pratiques de classe, tandis que les mesures d’individualisation n’ont pas été constatées. En ce qui a trait aux résultats des élèves aux tâches en écriture, nos résultats indiquent que deux groupes se démarquent parmi les six. En effet, c’est dans ces deux classes que la plus forte progression est constatée. Les pratiques des enseignantes de ces deux classes sont très diversifiées et elles sont les seules à mettre en avant dans leurs pratiques tous les dispositifs dont il est question en entretiens. De plus, les contenus enseignés sont denses, ce qui est réputé pour caractériser les pratiques des enseignants efficaces (Hall, 2003). De même, ces deux enseignantes offrent un étayage de grande qualité à leurs élèves et maîtrisent parfaitement le pilotage des tâches. La présente recherche peut servir à apporter un éclairage nouveau sur les pratiques de littératie des enseignants considérés experts afin de mieux comprendre leurs pratiques, de même que la place qu’ils accordent à la différenciation pédagogique. / The present research document aims to describe the practices of literacy of teachers considered as experts in an early elementary school context in Montreal. Specifically, the three research objectives of our work are as follows: describe the teaching practices applied to written language used by some teachers considered as experts (N = 6) in an early elementary school context in Montreal (objective 1); describe the various types of differentiated teaching selected by some teachers considered as experts in a Montreal-specific context to teach reading and writing skills according to the varying needs of their students (objective 2); and investigate possible links between the teaching practices applied to the acquisition of writing skills used by teachers considered as experts and the progress made by their students (N = 100) in the first cycle of elementary school in a Montreal, in terms of their knowledge of phonographic relationships and the spelling standard (objective 3). In order to meet these goals, we conducted two interviews with teachers, and ran two classroom observations, one in the fall and the other in spring. For their part, students were subjected to two writing tasks twice during the year (one aimed at word generation and the other at text production) to measure their progress during the year as it relates to their knowledge of phonographic relationships and to the spelling standard. Results showed that teaching practices as well as frequency vary greatly from one teacher to another. The richness of the material presented in class also differs greatly. In accordance with the multi-agenda model of Bucheton and Soulé (2009), the five components of the activity matrix of the teacher were found in all classes, but did not have the same importance for every one of the teachers engaged in our research. The results also indicate that all teachers differentiate their teaching, although at varying degrees. It seems that differentiation of processes, of contents and of structures is the easiest factor to implement in the classroom. In line with our adaptation of Caron’s model of differentiated instruction (2008), it seems that the elements that were most mobilized were diversification and the offering of choices. Adaptation measures were seldom emphasized in classroom practices, while no measures of individualization were observed. In regard to student performance in writing tasks, our results indicate that two groups stand out among the six. Indeed, it is in these two classes that we observed the greatest increase. Practices used by the teachers in these two classes were very diverse and they were the only ones who used all of the methods discussed in interviews. Furthermore, the content of the course was rich, a characteristic of effective teaching practices (Hall 2003). Similarly, these two teachers offered their students a high quality scaffolding and mastered coaching tasks. This research can be used to shed new light on the practices of literacy used by teachers that are considered as experts in order to better understand these practices, as well as the importance given to differentiated instruction.

Most Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana are notparticularly anxious about the consequences of inadequacy or lack of anyform of vulnerability management operation in their normal businesspractices. This case study research explores how a local Internet ServiceProvider (ISP) in Ghana and its local client-base can manage vulnerabilitieswith a targeted patch management practise integrated into their operations.To answer the research question “How can a SME local Internet ServiceProvider (ISP) in Accra, Ghana, assist their local customer base to integrateeffective cybersecurity vulnerability management into their operations?“,This case study comprised the Subject Matter Expert of one local ISP as well as4 other technical Subject Matter Experts of the ISP’s clients about their patchmanagement operations. This case study research revealed that most SMEs donot consider vulnerability management as a key concern in the operation oftheir organisation and therefore, proposes a way to highlight the importanceof vulnerability management whiles doing so at a cost-effective manner. Theimplications of targeted cybersecurity patch management for the local ISP andtheir client-base is also addressed by this thesis research.

Syfte och frågeställningar: Syftet med studien var att undersöka och erhålla kunskap kring hur frilansande specialister upplever deras arbetsform och vilka effekter arbetsformen medför för individen, sett utifrån ett hållbarhetsperspektiv. Studiens frågeställningar var: ”vilka effekter, i form av möjligheter respektive hinder, medför arbetsformen för frilansande specialister?” och ”vilka drivkrafter motiverar individen att frilansa?”   Material och metoder: I studien användes metoden klassisk grundad teori, vilket är en fullständig metod för hela uppsatsen. Datainsamlingen skedde genom fem ostrukturerade intervjuer samt fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer baserat på en kombination av snöbollsurval och ändamålsenligt urval. Intervjuerna kompletterades med fyra vetenskapliga artiklar relaterade till studiens forskningsändamål. Resultatanalysen skedde genom tre faser; öppen kodning, selektiv kodning och teoretisk kodning, vilket resulterade i en modell om hållbarhet för frilansande specialister.   Huvudresultat: Centralt för arbetsformens hållbarhet är omfattande yrkeskompetens, vilket är grundläggande för frilansande specialisters incitament och preferens samt anlitningsbarhet. Incitament och preferens till arbetsformen utgörs av strävan mot självständighet samt personlig och yrkesmässig utveckling kopplat till frilansarens omfattande yrkeskompetens. Anlitningsbarhet baseras på frilansande specialisters förmåga att effektivt kunna nätverka och marknadsföra yrkeskompetenser, samt kompetensen att kunna hantera arbetsformens potentiella ekonomiska osäkerhet. / Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate and obtain knowledge about how expert freelancers perceive their work and what effects the work form entails for the individual, from a sustainability perspective. The research questions were: "what effects, in terms of opportunities and obstacles, does the work form entail for expert freelancers?" And "what motivates the individual to freelance?"   Materials and Methods: The study used the classical grounded theory method, which is a complete method for the entire essay. Data collection was done through five unstructured interviews and four semi-structured interviews based on a combination of chain sampling and purposeful sampling. The interviews were completed with four scientific articles related to the study's research purpose. The analysis was done in three stages; open coding, selective coding and theoretical coding, which resulted in a model of sustainability for expert freelancers.   Findings: Key to obtain sustainability in the work form requires extensive professional competence, which leads to the incentives and preferences of expert freelancers and their employability. Incentives and preferences consist of the pursuit of independence and personal and professional development linked to the freelancer's extensive professional competence. The employability is based on expert freelancers ability to effectively build networks and market their professional skills, as well as the ability to handle the potential economic uncertainty of the work form.

This bachelor thesis examines how terms of heterosexuality are negotiated within the Swedish reality show Gift vid första ögonkastet (Married at first sight), which is presented as a social experiment where strangers marry each other and go on to live together for four weeks. The couples are matched by four experts (two psychologists, one sexologist and one couple’s counsellor), and their roles as professionals and distributors of knowledge are the main focus of this study as it permeates how the terms are negotiated by the six participants. By applying queer theories such as the heterosexual matrix, performativity and temporality, the terms are identified as monogamy, height difference, desire, emotional labour, and equality. These are analysed using the three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis, while also adopting its framework for ideological power to examine how the experts use their position to give way for their interpretations of relationships, love and gender. The findings conclude that the programme works within a discourse of gender equality to support its own eligibility and does not challenge heterosexual ideals but rather furthers them by offering the heteronormative idea of monogamous love as a solution to a supposed increase of loneliness.