Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Mutual learning algorithm is a machine learning algorithm where multiple machine learning algorithms learns from different sources and then share their knowledge among themselves so that all the agents can improve their classification and prediction accuracies simultaneously. Mutual learning algorithm can be an efficient mechanism for improving the machine learning and neural network efficiency in a multi-agent system. Usually, in knowledge distillation algorithms, a big network plays the role of a static teacher and passes the data to smaller networks, known as student networks, to improve the efficiency of the latter. In this thesis, it is showed that two small networks can dynamically and interchangeably play the changing roles of teacher and student to share their knowledge and hence, the efficiency of both the networks improve simultaneously. This type of dynamic learning mechanism can be very useful in mobile environment where there is resource constraint for training with big dataset. Data exchange in multi agent, teacher-student network system can lead to efficient learning. The concept and the proposed mutual learning algorithm are demonstrated using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) to recognize the pattern recognition problem using MNIST hand-writing dataset. The concept of machine learning is applied in the field of natural language processing (NLP) too. Machines with basic understanding of human language are getting increasingly popular in day-to-day life. Therefore, NLP-enabled machines with memory efficient training can potentially become an indispensable part of our life in near future. A classic problem in the field of NLP is news classification problem where news articles from newspapers are classified by news categories by machine learning algorithms. In this thesis, we show news classification implemented using Naïve Bayes and support vector machine (SVM) algorithm. Then we show two small networks can dynamically play the changing roles of teacher and student to share their knowledge on news classification and hence, the efficiency of both the networks improves simultaneously. The mutual learning algorithm is applied between homogenous algorithms first, i.e., between two Naive Bayes algorithms and two SVM algorithms. Then the mutual learning is demonstrated between heterogenous agents, i.e., between one Naïve Bayes and one SVM agent and the relative efficiency increase between the agents is discussed before and after mutual learning. / 2025-04-04

Utvecklingsprojekt förutsätter konstruerade målgrupper – ”de fattiga”, ”de under-utvecklade”, ”analfabeter” – som man ämnar ”hjälpa”, ”utveckla” eller ”utbilda”. Vad som definieras vara ”problemen” baseras på kunskap som härrör från samma källa som idéerna till utvecklingsinsatser. Detta riskerar att ignorera lokalkännedom. Denna uppsats visar, genom analys av ett fall på mikronivå, att projektmål som syftar till att främja utveckling inte alltid lyckas.Denna studie är baserad på etnografiskt material hämtat från ett bostadsområde i Dondo, en landsortsbygd i centrala Moçambique, genom fältarbete. Studien utforskar hur en utvecklingsdiskurs och praxis införs i en lokal ort, hur detta påverkar människorna, samt hur de används och förändras.Mötet mellan utomstående och lokalboende i ekonomiska och materiella ojämlika förhållanden, och arbetsrelationerna mellan ledare och personer med lägre social status, kännetecknas av ömsesidiga fördomar och stereotypa bilder av ”den andre”. I Dondo har historiskt och kulturellt normaliserade sociala relationer kommit att marginalisera ekonomiskt mindre gynnade invånare. Uppdelningen mellan insiders och outsiders legitimerar och upprätthåller marginaliseringen av lokal kunskap och exkluderingen av lokala invånares deltagande. Samtidigt finns det en brist på tilltro till utomståendes expertis bland lokalboende, som hindrar erkännande av ”yttre” kunskap som kan bidra till lokal utveckling.Dessa faktorer hindrar skapandet av inkluderande arbetsrelationer, det vill säga ett ge-och-ta-förhållande där båda parter lär och drar nytta av varandras erfarenheter och kunskap. Denna uppsats hävdar därför att ömsesidigt lärande är en förutsättning för utveckling. En viss typ av ledarskap kan möjliggöra utveckling om den tillämpas i syfte att utmana befintliga ojämlika maktförhållanden och diskursivt konstruerade bilder av sig själv och andra som cirkulerar i utvecklingssammanhang. / Development projects often conceptualize target groups that are identified as – ‘the poor’, ‘the underdeveloped’, ‘the illiterate’ – with the aim to ‘help’, ‘develop’ or ‘educate’ them. The definitions of ‘problems’ are based on knowledge deriving from the same source as the ideas of development interventions, and therefore may ignore local knowledge. By analyzing one micro-level case this thesis suggests that projects aiming to promote development may in fact fail to accomplish their goals.This study is based on ethnographic material collected through fieldwork in one local neighbourhood of Dondo, which is a rural town in central Mozambique. It explores how development discourse and practice are introduced in a local setting, how they operate, and the way in which they are transformed and utilized.The encounters between outsiders and insiders in conditions of economic and material inequality, and the work relations between superiors and socially less privileged people, are characterized by reciprocal preconceptions and stereotyped images of ‘the Other’. In Dondo historically and culturally normalized social relations have come to marginalize economically less advantaged residents. The divisions between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ may legitimize and maintain the marginalization of local knowledge, as well as local people’s participation. At the same time, a lack of trust towards outsiders’ expertise exists amongst insiders, which impedes recognition of ‘outer’ knowledge that could contribute to local development.These factors obstruct the creation of inclusive work relations; a give-and-take relationship in which both sides learn and benefit from each other’s experience and knowledge. Therefore, this thesis argues for mutual learning as a precondition for development. Certain leadership approaches may enable development, if it is practiced with the aim to challenge existing power inequalities and discursively created images of self and others that operate within development contexts.

<p>    </p> <p>Mutual learning algorithm is a machine learning algorithm where multiple machine learning algorithms learns from different sources and then share their knowledge among themselves so that all the agents can improve their classification and prediction accuracies simultaneously. Mutual learning algorithm can be an efficient mechanism for improving the machine learning and neural network efficiency in a multi-agent system. Usually, in knowledge distillation algorithms, a big network plays the role of a static teacher and passes the data to smaller networks, known as student networks, to improve the efficiency of the latter. In this thesis, it is showed that two small networks can dynamically and interchangeably play the changing roles of teacher and student to share their knowledge and hence, the efficiency of both the networks improve simultaneously. This type of dynamic learning mechanism can be very useful in mobile environment where there is resource constraint for training with big dataset. Data exchange in multi agent, teacher-student network system can lead to efficient learning.  </p>

This thesis is focus on finding ways ​ to bring awareness to the parents about the complexity of the internet in order to empower them at the moment to approach online protection topics with their children, therefore it started with a analysis of the online protection field from a broader perspective and eventually by comparing the field with the insights gathered during a set of interventions, it narrowed down to online protection for kids and the relation with the parents and their children in relation with this topic.The research followed a research through design approach which allows the process to learn from the outcomes of every iterations and generates a dynamic relation of framing and reframing that enables the design process to modify its focus within the same field based on the conversation of the results and the theory.Additionally, a participatory design approach based on a set of workshops and interviews with experts, informed the process in which could be the most suitable approach to reach the goal of the project.As a result, this thesis propose a set of tools to generate collective solutions among parents based on the understanding of the internet infrastructure and the open discussion about the internet issues their children could faced.Besides, this exploration aims to state a new role of the interaction designer as the mediator within the relation between the user and and the technology different than by setting a set of usability rules but closer to the generation of codes of conduct grounded in an open discussion between the all the parts involved. This approach motivates a transparent dialogue about thesocial and ethical implication in the use of such tools.

This study examines the burden placed on racialized students to address race-related issues within social work education, highlighting that social work education is not meant for racialized students. Utilizing Critical Race Theory as a theoretical framework, this research employs focus groups and interviews to understand the experiences of these students and to provide insights into what changes need to be made. Findings revealed that the responsibility for promoting racial justice often falls disproportionately on racialized students, while essential concepts to racial justice, such as solidarity, unity, and collectivization are largely absent from the curriculum. Furthermore, the findings highlighted that race pedagogy is shaped by whiteness. This study emphasizes the need for change in race pedagogy and social work education, one that is committed to deconstructing whiteness and the colonial agenda. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

I och med den aktuella och växande problematiken kring bostadsbristen i Stockholmsregionen, så skapades samverkansprojektet Grön Bostad Stockholm, vars syfte är att främja hållbar stadsutveckling. Projektet består av många mål, individer och aktörer som handlar och fungerar gemensamt för ett visst syfte. För att projektet ska kunna fortlöpa effektivt och kunna bidra till en hållbar stadsutveckling, är det därför viktigt att undersöka samverkan i projektet. Det huvudsakliga syftet är att undersöka samverkan och lärandet i sociala sammanhang mellan aktörerna i projektet, vilket avser att identifiera styrkor och svagheter för att slutligen föreslå förbättringar gällande samverkan och lärandet i sociala sammanhang. Metoden för datainsamling var kvalitativ och bestod av intervjuer, formulär och observationer. I resultatet och analysen framgår det hur samverkan och lärandet i sociala sammanhang fungerar i projektet, vilket främst sker via projektgruppsmöten. Vidare visade även resultatet att det fanns både styrkor och svagheter gällande samverkan och lärandet i sociala sammanhang i projektet. Slutligen fördes även resonemang kring förbättringsförslag vad avser samverkan och lärandet i sociala sammanhang med utgångspunkt i grupprocesser. Slutsatsen i denna studie är att samverkan och lärande i sociala sammanhang framförallt sker på projektgruppsmöten och leder till att projektet kan fortlöpa mer effektivt. Vidare har styrkor och svagheter identifierats, och för att projektet ska kunna fortlöpa är det därför viktigt att förbättra samverkan och lärandet ytterligare. Detta kan göras med hjälp av olika arbetssätt och strategier som ger individerna möjlighet att främja demokrati, engagemang, erfarenhetsutbyten och kunskapsutbyten i projektet. / With the current and growing problem of housing shortage in the Stockholm region, the project Green Livelihood Stockholm was created, which aims to promote sustainable urban development. The project consists of many goals, individuals and actors who act and work together for particular purposes. In order for the project to proceed efficiently and to contribute to sustainable urban development, it is important to investigate the collaboration in the project. The main purpose is to investigate the collaboration and mutual learning between the actors and the individuals in the project, which aims to identify strengths and weaknesses in order to propose improvements in collaboration and mutual learning. The qualitative method used consisted of interviews, forms and observations. The results and analysis show how collaboration and mutual learning works in the project, which is mainly through project group meetings. Furthermore, the result also showed that there were both strengths and weaknesses regarding collaboration and mutual learning. Lastly, there were arguments about improvement proposals regarding collaboration and mutual learning based on group processes. The conclusion in this study is that collaboration and mutual learning occurs in the project where it leads to the project being able to proceed more efficiently. Strength as well as weaknesses have been identified, for the project to proceed, it is therefore important to improve the collaboration and mutual learning in the project. This can be done using different methods and techniques that allow individuals to promote democracy, commitment, exchange of experiences and knowledge exchanges in the project.

Denna studie diskuterar och problematiserar kring hur deltagare i en konstnärlig kurs involverar och delar med sig av personliga erfarenheter och intressen. Studien intresserar sig särskilt för olika sätt som kursdeltagare delar med sig på och vilka förhållanden och förutsättningar som upplevs påverka möjligheterna till detta. Studien bygger på en pragmatisk teoretisk grund och ser därför kommunikationen mellan individer och mellan individer och miljöer i olika sammanhang som det som skapar den gemensamma kunskapen och verkligheten. Till studiens teoretiska ramverk hör också ett relationellt perspektiv som visar på relationerna mellan människor som väsentligt för hur vi upplever och skapar identitet och kunskap. Studieobjektet är en nystartad folhögskolekurs och med hjälp av det teoretiska ramverket och kvalitativa intervjuer med kursdeltagare visar studiens resultat fram ett antal sätt och ett antal förhållanden som hänger samman med kursdeltagares delande av erfarenheter och intressen. En produktiv gemenskap i gruppen både skapas av och ger upphov till många och gränsöverkridande samtal mellan deltagarna som på detta sätt skapar ett gemensamt meningsfullt innehåll. Den produktiva gemenskapen i gruppen, det utbredda samtalen mellan deltagare och en tydlig frivillighet som genomsyrar kursen, som delvis kan antas härstamma ur själva skolformen folkhögskola, är de kategorier som sammanfattar studiens resultat.

This study examines ways in which African and Afro-Caribbean refugee girls and young women negotiate and perform identity in varied social contexts. Designed as youth-centered participatory action research, the study draws from three years of engagement with a group of refugee girls, ages 11-23, from Somalia, Liberia, Haiti, Burundi, and Sudan. The research occurred in the broader context of The Imani Nailah Project, a program I initiated for refugee middle and high school girls in May 2008. Through in-depth interviews, youth-led focus groups, and arts-based research, Imani researchers (study participants) and I explored experiences and expressions of gender, race/ethnicity, nationality, age, religion and citizenship status, as well as the intersections among these multiply-located identities. This study spans a wide range of identity negotiations and performances, from micro-level interactions to macro-level impacts of dominant culture. Three interrelated chapters focus on programmatic, methodological, and theoretical components of the dissertation research: (a) how refugee girls and university volunteers pursue mutual learning within a service context; (b) how girl-centered participatory action research can serve as a vehicle towards relational activism, and (c) how broader discourses of othering shape the salience of refugee and citizen identities in the lives of refugee girls. Combined, these articles expand our understanding of how refugee girls narrate self as they participate in and contribute to multiple social worlds. / Ph. D.

This master thesis presents an exploration of participatory workshops. It focuses on how these may involve a design project’s various stakeholders, and take the design process further by joint activities of mutual learning. The main concern addressed in the thesis is how participatory workshops may be designed and carried through, together with companies working with design. The aim of the exploration is to gain an understanding of the various steps of the design and implementation of workshops, and also how these steps interact during the process. The exploration is mainly based on the design and implementation of three different workshops: One workshop was designed on behalf of a design consultancy as part of the phase of concept, in an ongoing design project about cleaning products. Afterwards the team worked on ideas based on the winning concepts from this workshop. A second workshop was designed for a working team at a company of wood floor production, in order to identify what future steps to take. The outcome emphasized what the team needed as well as desired to be working on next. In collaboration with the same wood floor producer, a third workshop was also designed as a part of the company’s design competition. This workshop aimed to making the competitors share their personal experiences of the theme of the competition. The workshop resulted in a joint creation of understanding and knowledge about the company’s demands and desires of the new product. In order to broaden my perspective on the method, I carried out a number of interviews, for example with MiL Institute, who is working with management training and coaching, and with Ordrum, who offers training in communication. To support mutual learning in the workshops, aspects of knowledge and learning are additionally included in the study. The exploration shows the advantage of using prepared ambiguous materials as part of the framework of a workshop, for supporting divergent thinking; individual and collective storytelling; diversity of ideas; and collaboration between people. Additionally the exploration indicates that people’s involvement in participatory workshops may create more responsibility of the design, through the experience of a shared ownership of the process. Moreover, it points out the challenge of working co-creationally in design work, also through the design process of workshops.