While obesity is now recognized as a major health concern in Ghana, the major drivers, causal factors, and their spatial variation remain unclear. Nutritional changes and lack of physical activity are frequently blamed but the underlying factors, particularly cultural values and practices, remain understudied. Using hot spot analysis and spatial autocorrelation, this research investigates the spatial patterns of obesity in Ghana and the explanatory factors. We also use focus group discussions to examine the primary cultural factors underlying these patterns. The results show that wealth, high education, and urban residence are the best positive predictors of obesity, while poverty, low education, and rural residence are the best (negative) predictors of obesity. Consequently, improving the socioeconomic status, for example, through higher levels of education and urbanization may increase obesity rates. Furthermore, the cultural preference for fat body as the ideal body size drives individual aspiration for weight gain which can lead to obesity. Thus, reducing obesity rates in Ghana is impossible without addressing the underlying cultural values.

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Encouraging running for exercise can be an important part of a comprehensive strategy for making communities more attractive for healthy physical activity. In order to make communities more runnerriendly, research must identify the features of the physical environment that are important for runners. This study identified these features through five focus groups of twenty-two runners. The focus group participants discussed the places they had run within the study community and described their positive and negative qualities. These discussions were then analyzed by examining direct quotations of the discussion transcripts and by noting the amount of participants concerned about particular issues. The findings showed that the participants chose their routes based on their ability to meet their exercise needs, safety, ease of access, and potential to be a fun experience. These insights into these runners’ preferences can be used to help make communities more conducive to physical activity.

The present study focuses on students at two Swedish secondary schools and the pronunciation errors that are the most prominent during reception and production of specific speech sounds. The primary focus of this degree paper is to establish whether or not certain speech sounds such as e.g. the /tʃ/ sound, which do not occur in the Swedish language in initial position are difficult or not and whether or not they act as an obstacle for Swedish students learning English as their L2. The aim was to establish which specific pronunciation errors that occurred in the L2 language classroom. Since this was the aim, primarily quantitative studies were carried out at two secondary schools in southern Sweden. The results from the four different tests show that the tested Swedish L2 students seem to have a greater difficulty with speech sounds placed in initial position than in final position of a specific word. According to this degree paper this is due to the fact that the Swedish language does not have an equivalent to the difficult speech sound in initial position, therefore making it difficult and often resulting in negative transfer from the L1. Furthermore, the English sounds that posed the biggest problems for the students were ones that sometimes can be found in the Swedish language. These sounds were very similar to native sounds creating a challenge for the Swedish students when perceiving and producing the English sounds. However, it was shown that when these sounds were presented in a context, they proved to be less challenging for the students to receive and produce. Moreover, although the syllabus only mentions that communication should be functional, there still needs to be an element of focus on form in order to become a proficient language user.

Spelifiering innebär implementation av spelelement i icke-spelmiljöer. Målet med spelifiering är i många fall att öka användarens motivation till att genomföra en aktivitet. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur civilingenjörsstudenters motivation och fokus vid studier påverkas av att använda den spelifierade mobilapplikationen Focus Plant, vars syfte är att minska mobiltelefonanvändning under exempelvis studier. Spelifiering är ett relativt nytt fenomen som på senare år har fått uppmärksamhet då det hävdas kunna appliceras på allt från marknadsföring till inlärning och hälsa. Kritik har dock riktats mot bland annat begreppets vaghet, att det simplifierar teorier om hur motivation uppstår, och att forskningen ännu inte klargjort exakt hur spelifiering verkar. Med utgångspunkt i forskning om spelifiering och motivation undersöker denna studie effekten av en spelifierad applikation och hur väl implementering av olika spelelement fungerat. För att utreda detta fick 12 studenter under en period på två veckor testa Focus Plant. Efter testperioden hölls individuella intervjuer med samtliga deltagare för att samla data om hur applikationen uppfattats och dess påverkan på varje deltagares motivation och fokus. Resultatet av studien tyder på att vid användning av applikationen blev mobiltelefonen ett mindre störningsmoment. Studenterna blev däremot inte motiverade till att studera mer tack vare applikationen, men under ett studiepass kände de sig mer motiverade till att avsluta hela passet. Intervjusvaren tyder på att en möjlig förklaring till att fokuset förbättrades var att en timer och låsfunktion i Focus Plant fick studenterna att känna att de inte kunde lämna applikationen under studiepasset och därför använde de inte andra mobilapplikationer. Samtliga deltagare tyckte att många spelelement blev störande vilket kan vara en anledning till att de inte blev motiverade till att studera mer när de använde Focus Plant. Andra bidragande faktorer var att deltagarna upplevde belöningssystemet som otillräckligt och att många spelelement verkade motstridigt mot syftet. Vår slutsats är att spelifiering kan spela en roll i att påverka motivation och fokus, men för bästa resultat krävs att man i implementeringen av spelelement lägger vikt vid balansen mellan användarens inre och yttre motivation. / Gamification refers to the implementation of game elements in non-game environments. The goal of gamification is often to increase motivation to perform a task. The purpose of this study is to examine how motivation and focus among engineering students are affected by using the gamified mobile phone application Focus Plant. The purpose of Focus Plant is to reduce mobile phone usage during studies or work. Gamification is a relatively new concept and is expanding into different areas such as marketing, learning and well-being. Gamification has previously been criticized for being too general and for simplifying how motivation is created. The effects of gamification from previous research are still not clear. This study uses previous research about gamification and motivation to examine the effects of a gamified mobile application and how well the game elements have been implemented. To investigate this, 12 students tested Focus Plant while studying during a two week period. After the test period, individual interviews were held with each of the participating students to gather data on their experience with the application as well as its effects on their motivation and focus on their studies. The results of the study shows that by using the application, the mobile phone became somewhat less of a distraction. The students did not become motivated to study more, however they felt more motivated to finish a study session they had already started, when using the application. A timer and lock function were two features in the application that made the phone less of a distraction. According to the participants, these features made it feel like they could not do other things on the phone while the timer in Focus Plant was on. A common theme among all participants was that many of the game elements were distracting instead of motivating and encouraging. Other factors were that the participants felt that the reward system was insufficient and that some game elements were contradictory to the purpose of the application. Our conclusion is that gamification can affect both motivation and focus among students, but to achieve the best results it is important that the implementation of game elements pays attention to the balance between the user’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Public transportation ridership levels have decreased since the end of World War II. Transit systems in small cities struggle to maintain ridership levels high enough to continue receiving local subsidies. Individuals with refugee status, and those with limited English proficiency (LEP), represent an opportunity to increase ridership. The bus system increases mobility for people without a car or driver’s license, including many refugees and LEP people, thereby increasing their accessibility to work and education. This thesis places the local bus system in Manchester, New Hampshire in a historical context and identifies some barriers and potentials for increasing refugee and LEP ridership. In addition to increasing headways and hours of operation, recommendations point to improved publicity, including distributing route maps and schedules more widely, using clearer bus stop signs, and providing bus passes for refugees in the first few months after arrival. It should be noted that language did not arise as a barrier to transit ridership in this study.

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